TSA – To Scan or Not To Scan?
TSA scans person - is it safe
That is the question of many flyers. A recent report has been conducted and some US scientists agree that the X-ray scanners now being used to screen passengers and airline crews at airports around the country may be unsafe.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) say the machines are safe. Government officials have said that the scanners have been tested and meet safety standards.
Backscatter scans are nicknamed the “naked” scanners, because of the graphic image they give of a person’s body, genitalia and all. It uses small doses of ionizing radiation, and although the risk of harmful radiation exposure is very small, it still raises concern within the medical community.
According to David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University and a professor of radiation biophysics, is concerned on how widley the scanners will be used.
Skin cancer would likely be the primary concern, he said. He is most concerned about frequent fliers, pilots and young people, because children are more sensitive to radiation.
Dr. Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, agrees.
Dr. Lowe adds, 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.
Captain David Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at American Airlines, urged members to avoid the full-body scanner.
“Politely decline exposure and request alternative screening,” even if “the enhanced pat-down is a demeaning experience,” he said.
When a passenger or airline crew is randomly selected and asked to pass through the scanner, they have the option to refuse. Then, the individual will be subjected to the manual search by a TSA agent. A travel industry official says people are not reacting well to the “pat-downs”.
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Posted by Kitty Jones
on Nov 13 2010. Filed under Family, Featured News, Technology, Travel.
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I'm glad we have the scanners in the airports. I don't mind getting a large dose of radiation. It don't bother me if the saved naked images of my wife and five year old daughter is looked at over and over by perverted TSA agents. If we decide to opt out, I don't see any harm if my wife and daughter get groped on there private parts even though real police officers are not allowed to conduct such a pat down that the TSA does because it is considered a sexual assault. Last but not least, I'm down with submitting to the reeducation of U.S. citizens to give up all rights and personal privacy to our puppet government and the tyranny of big brother. I'd rather give up all my rights and liberties in the name of safety. The government knows what’s best for us and deserves our obedience. Anybody who objects to the treatment we receive in the airports by the TSA agents is not a true patriot and deserves to be rounded up and sent to a FEMA concentration camp since the bill HR 645 was passed to house those dissidents. Long live the U.S. Patriot Act, Homeland Security, FEMA, TSA, and tyranny.