Scientists Warn Airport X-Ray Scanners May Be Unsafe

November 17th, 2010

Via: 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 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.

2 Responses to “Scientists Warn Airport X-Ray Scanners May Be Unsafe”

  1. Crates says:

    I don’t ’bout ya’ll, but I agonize over getting X-rayed for my dental exams. I actually wait longer between appointments just to reduce this exposure.

  2. ronjondoe says:

    I agree, I would have a good fondle rather than go before a backscatter x-ray…Israel is in the news because their system works so much better and uses none of the US’s new system of personal violation and intrusion (it uses profiling…meh):
    http://securitysolutions.com/news/security_exposing_hostile_intent/

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