Al Qaeda appears to have found a way to endanger millions of people around the world. According to a new report, the full body scanners being used in airports around the world have a dosage of radiation that is 20 times greater than previously announced. Scientists warn of a possible increase in skin cancer.
Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University’s center for radiological research, noted the risk is low, but believes more testing is needed to determine the impact on various groups. He noted, however, “[i]f there are increases in cancers as a result of irradiation of children, they would most likely appear some decades in the future. It would be prudent not to scan the head and neck.”
This follows another recent study showing a high exposure to radiation in airplanes during some storms. If Amtrak is not funding these studies, it should be.
Source: Daily Mail
Plus they don’t work:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/23/full-body-scanner-fails-t_n_433286.html
And they can store and transmit images:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/airport-scanners/
Get rid of these ridiculous, dangerous contraptions.
Glow Babys……
Speaking of radiation, here’s the first direct picture ever of a planet outside our solar system.
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=080915-exoplanet-02.jpg&cap=This+photo+taken+by+Gemini+Observatory%27s+adaptive+optics+system+in+infrared+light+shows+the+star+1RSX+J160929.1-210524+and+its+likely+~8+Jupiter-mass+planet%28dot+at+upper+left%29.+The+extrasolar+planet+is+touted+as+the+first+directly+photographed.+%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.space.com%2Fscienceastronomy%2Ffirst-alien-planet-photographed-confirmed-100629.html%3EFull+Story%3C%2Fa%3E.+Credit%3A+Gemini+Observatory+
I travel frequently and have been through these new scanners a few times. In most places it is still easy to pick a line without the device but that probably won’t be true for long.
One day when I’m running early I will probably ask for the manual pat down instead of the strip search and radiation dose from this device. I’m sure such requests are punished with delays, bag searches, vigorous groping and useless questioning.
With so many extra TSA staff on hand, I have also seen more “gate side” secondary searches where the TSA pulls people out of the boarding line for bag searches, piling belongings on tables for all to see as they pass by. Highly recommended if you want to be last on with no possibility of storing your carry-on.
Another issue with body scanners is that many people nearby the security area are exposed to the radiation of these devices, including the Thousands Standing Around.
Thanks for the planet picture BIL.
Now, I would be more than happy just to perform the proper strip search right next to the scanner.
Then let the buggers live with the mental scars.
Mrs M! would make an excellent shoe bomber. She is tiny, incredibly cute and when she gets frisked she is in fits of squeaky giggles before they get down as far as her waist, so they usually give up in order to maintain their composure. Always very entertaining.
I’m not the least bit surprised by this. Any decent physicist could probably do a quick off-the-cuff calculation to gauge the likely frequency, wavelength and energy of the radiation required to do what the government is claiming these scanners can do.
Frequent travelers should be very concerned. Parents should be concerned. People in risk groups for skin cancer should be concerned. And on and on and on.
Choose the pat-down.
I’m appalled that these monstrous machines “all in the name of fighting terrorism” are up and running in airports…We as American People didn’t ask for this. We are the ones going through airports day in and day out. Sure, all the bureaucrats and ruling class in America are not worried because they have private jets and don’t need to go through these scanners.
We are getting more and more surveillance and it’s getting creepy. They are using fearmongering to get us used to a life of submissiveness. How many of our rights do we have to keep giving up to be “safe from terrorists” ? We are consistently giving up our rights, chasing mythical boogeymen. Where is our judicial system in all of this??
Why would any thinking person want to be subject to this extra radiation “that the experts say is safe” and be treated like some prisoner or herded animal? The experts have lost all credibility. What a joke.
In the “old day’s” they used to radiate or scan our feet when checking the fit of new shoes. They got rid of those ancient devices for obvious reasons. What goes around comes around, there is nothing new under the sun.