Posted on 11/15/2010 12:21:52 PM PST by george76
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 Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns 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 scientists say the X-rays could pose a risk to everyone from travelers over the age of 65 to pregnant women and their unborn babies, to HIV-positive travelers, cancer patients and men.
"Men's sexual organs are exposed to the X-rays. The skin is very thin there," Love explained.
The Office of Science and Technology responded this week to the scientists' letter, saying the scanners have been "tested extensively" by US government agencies and were found to meet safety standards.
But Sedat told AFP Friday: "We still don't know the beam intensity or other details of their classified system."
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
I love how michael ironsides head exploded in scanners, but that’s just me.
What sort of risk do the scanner operators, even if they close only four hours per day over a number of years, have ?
Are the pilot and crew concerns on the extra radiation valid ?
That's what they said about Thalidomide.
>>>”Men’s sexual organs are exposed to the X-rays. The skin is very thin there,” Love explained.
Solution: jock & metal cup. problem solved.
in my humble opinion, the operators don’t see that much risk, there are some health physics papers out there that describe the dose they get. Google will help there.
The pilots whining sounds odd, I think, because at least in the EU and Canada, flight crews are considered radiation workers and know about the dose they get in flight.
But, a strict application of the ALARA principle says “no additional radiation”, so on that basis, yeah they have a point, though the actual dose from a backscatter is difficult to measure.
it could be a pay issue, too.
Arggghh!!!!! Just the idea is painful!!!!!
Forget the scanners, have all fliers touch a piece of bacon before getting on a plane. Problem solved.
Considering how many millions of people fly on planes, there could be thousands of cases of cancer as a result of these screenings. But better thousands of Americans dying of cancer than one Muslim being offended over “profiling.”
taqquya!
Do not fly, do not make reservations for that day, do not rent a car....simply, take a day off.
When the airlines/airport/rental car/vendors scream bloody murder....then TSA’s higher ups will listen.
It's all about da money.
Do we all (over sixty let’s say) remember the shoe stores, and the foot X-ray machines?
IIRC I believe those machines were banned for the same reason as discussed here.
http://www.dep.state.pa.us/brp/radon_division/BEIR VII Preliminary Report.pdf
Ya gotta sell the sizzle!
You do realize that each time you fly you are adding more than 100x the dose you would get from one scan?
Resending as I meant to send that message to george76 as well as you kitty, and thank you for the ping too.
My original post I forgot to send to george76:
“Do we all (over sixty let’s say) remember the shoe stores, and the foot X-ray machines?
IIRC I believe those machines were banned for the same reason as discussed here.”
Can’t even eat peanuts on a plane because someone might have an allergic reaction to someone else’s peanuts. Yet this gets a pass on health risks...
Actually, in those cases, you are required to NOT have the badges exposed to outside exposures. If you did as you say above, you would be violating Federal law.
What an incredibly poorly written article. They aren’t X-rays, it’s terahertz non-ionizing EM (radio) radiation.
Getting whacked in the pieces parts is a little dangerous as well.
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