'Naked' scanners at US airports may be dangerous: scientists

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'Naked' scanners at US airports may be dangerous: scientists

Fri Nov 12, 6:39 PM

http://ca.news./s/afp/101112/health/us_airport_security_health

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Some US scientists warned Friday that the full-body,

graphic-image X-ray scanners now being used to screen passengers and airline

crews at airports around the country may be unsafe.

" They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin

cancer from these X-rays, " Dr Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the

department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at s Hopkins University

school of medicine, told AFP.

" No exposure to X-ray is considered beneficial. We know X-rays are hazardous but

we have a situation at the airports where people are so eager to fly that they

will risk their lives in this manner, " he said.

The possible health dangers posed by the scanners add to passengers' and airline

crews' concerns about the devices, which have been dubbed " naked " scanners

because of the graphic image they give of a person's body, genitalia and all.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began rolling out full-body

scanners at US airports in 2007, but stepped up deployment of the devices this

year when stimulus funding made it possible to buy another 450 of the advanced

imaging technology scanners.

Some 315 " naked " scanners are currently in use at 65 US airports, according to

the TSA.

Passengers and airline crew members, including pilots, are randomly selected to

pass through the scanners. They have the option of refusing, but will then be

subjected to what the TSA calls an " enhanced " manual search by an agent.

" People are not reacting well to these pat-downs, " said a travel industry

official, who asked not to be named.

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Read the rest of the story to get more information.

I recommend everyone refuse to be scanned, and instead " endure " the pat-down

procedure. If you are a woman I'm sure they will have a woman pat you down. It

may be uncomfortable for some people but the alternative is much worse, since

x-rays and other forms of radiation are known to cause cancer.

The best in health, Bee