[ RadSafe ] Infant goes through airport X-ray machine

[Muckerheide, Jim (CDA)]

Hmmm...  This is exactly the msg ICRP/NCRP et al. have been sending for
decades.  And who says the public isn't educable?  

And if the TSA people know ANYTHING, its what they got in a typical
mindless training course that government agencies send their people to
run by the "train the trainers" people who went to the (very costly)
Harvard School of Public Health, with training materials that were
reviewed by agency managers to make sure none of the (small
print/whispered) caveat footnotes at Harvard (for plausible deniability)
got through the screening process!

Regards, Jim 
 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl 
>[mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf Of Sandy Perle
>Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 5:15 PM
>To: radsafe at radlab.nl; jacobusj at ors.od.nih.gov
>Subject: [ RadSafe ] Infant goes through airport X-ray machine
>
>Received this courtesy of John Jacobus on another listserver:
>
>Note: The actions taken by TSA are beyond ridiculous. The X-ray 
>machines used for checked bags emits such an infinitesimally small 
>radiation exposure, significantly less than a chest x-ray. Yet they 
>send the baby to a hospital and consider whether the baby received a 
>"dangerous dose of radiation"! Guess you can pass film through the X-
>tray unit and not be concerned that there will be any fogging, but be 
>concerned about a baby, knowing that there really is no dose! Look at 
>the message this sends all of the other passengers, hospital 
>personnel, EMT personnel, etc.!
>
>Story Highlights
>o Grandmother leaves infant in plastic bin at airport X-ray machine
>o Baby goes through machine at Los Angeles International Airport
>o Baby checked out at hospital and is fine
>
>LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- 
>
>A woman sent her 1-month-old grandson through an X-ray machine at Los 
>Angeles International Airport, security officials said Wednesday.
>
>The woman, who spoke little English and was traveling to Mexico, put 
>the infant in a plastic bin used to hold loose carry-on items for 
>security scanning at the busy airport Saturday morning.
>
>Security screeners saw the baby as it started to pass through, pulled 
>the bin out, and immediately sought medical assistance for the child, 
>Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez said.
>
>The baby was examined at a local hospital and judged not to have 
>received a dangerous dose of radiation.
>
>"The lady obviously mistakenly put the baby in the machine. It was an 
>unfortunate incident," Melendez said.
>
>Airport officials said it was an innocent mistake by an inexperienced 
>traveler and only the second such incident there since 1988, when a 
>baby in a car seat went through an X-ray scanner.
>
>-------------------------------------
>Sandy Perle
>Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
>Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
>2652 McGaw Avenue
>Irvine, CA 92614 
>
>Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
>Fax:(949) 296-1144
>
>E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
>E-Mail: sandyfl at earthlink.net 
>
>Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
>Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/ 
>
>