[ RadSafe ] Airport Body Scanners

[Ahmad Al-Ani]

ACR Statement on Airport Full-body Scanners and Radiation


January 2010 ─ Amid concerns regarding terrorists targeting airliners using weapons less detectable by traditional means, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is ramping up deployment of whole body scanners at security checkpoints in U.S. airports. These systems produce anatomically accurate images of the body and can detect objects and substances concealed by clothing. 

To date, TSA has deployed two types of scanning systems: 

Millimeter wave technology uses low-level radio waves in the millimeter wave spectrum. Two rotating antennae cover the passenger from head to toe with low-level RF energy. 

Backscatter technology uses extremely weak X-rays delivering less than 10 microRem of radiation per scan ─ the radiation equivalent one receives inside an aircraft flying for two minutes at 30,000 feet. 

An airline passenger flying cross-country is exposed to more radiation from the flight than from screening by one of these devices. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) has reported that a traveler would need to experience 2,500 backscatter scans per year to reach what they classify as a Negligible Individual Dose. The American College of Radiology (ACR) agrees with this conclusion. 

The ACR is not aware of any evidence that either of the scanning technologies that the TSA is considering would present significant biological effects for passengers screened. 

The ACR encourages those interested in learning more regarding radiation associated with imaging and radiation oncology procedures as well as radiation naturally occurring in the Earth’s atmosphere to visit www.radiologyinfo.org. 


Source link:

http://www.acr.org/HomePageCategories/News/ACRNewsCenter/StatementonAirportFullbodyScanners.aspx

Ahmad



----- Original Message ----
From: "HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net" <HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net>
To: Ed Hiserodt <hise at sbcglobal.net>
Cc: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Sent: Sun, March 7, 2010 8:44:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Airport Body Scanners



"UNDEREXPOSED  -  What if Radiation Is Actually GOOD for You", 

Ed Hiserodt's paperback, is on my waiting room table, and well-thumbed. 



The Prologue is riveting (in brief):   

             " Radiation can be dangerous. 

             So can ignorance.   

X-rays for wrist fracture scared a woman into having an abortion, 

to prevent the 'likelihood of a deformed child' [ignorant of 

200 FEWER deformities in Taiwan apts where 4cSv over 10years 

Chen, Luan, J Am Phys & Surg 13/1/Spring '08]. 

A health physicist estimated the increased radiation as less 

than from a coast to coast flight. - 

I wonder what my niece or nephew would have been like" 



Publicize your engineering analysis, Ed! 



Howard Long, family doctor  



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ed Hiserodt" <hise at sbcglobal.net> 
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu 
Sent: Sunday, March 7, 2010 8:36:26 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific 
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Airport Body Scanners 

I recently received this email from a friend who thinks that I know 
something about radiation since I wrote a book on the beneficial effects of 
LLR.  Hey, when did writing on a subject and having any knowledge of it 
become synonymous?   (Remember Al Gore?)  Anyway here is his question.  Any 
comments on it would be appreciated. 

  

"Regarding the virtual strip-search machines that will be appearing at 
airports across the country, how much radiation do they actually release and 
how does this compare to the radiation we are normally exposed to anyway? 
How dangerous are these machines, if at all, for someone who does a lot of 
flying?  I understand that there are two technologies the TSA uses to peer 
through clothing: 

  

"One uses millimeter waves - does this involve any radiation; is it 
completely safe? 

  

"The other is the backscatter X-ray." 

  

Ed Hiserodt 

Maumelle, AR 

501 258 2571 

  

  

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