Re: Airport safety-xrays

[Paul William Shafer <paulwilliam_s@YAHOO.COM>]

Dear Phil:



I was very serious about may question regarding the

practicality and dosage from a whole body x-ray

scanner at airport security check-ins.  If practical,

perhaps this would be the way to eliminate high costs

associated with security and its delays.



Paul Shafer

--- PBarring@KDHE.STATE.KS.US wrote:

> 

> Golly gee, maybe we could institute strip searches

> and body cavity exams as

> well!

> 

> OK Folks, this is just too much.  I am sorry Paul to

> pick on your post for

> me to flame over, but I can't stand it any more. 

> These knee jerk reactions

> are going to put this country into traction.  The

> last time I checked, the

> Constitution of this country GUARANTEED freedom from

> unreasonable search

> and seizure.  At what point will we be satisfied? 

> At what point will we

> start to say, "Hey!  That is MY property you are

> taking."?  Ceramic knives?

> PLASTIC KNIVES!?  How about poly-carbonate guns that

> use air for

> propellant?  What about playing cards?  Pens? 

> Pencils?  Eyeglasses?  Ask

> any Army Ranger, SEAL or Marine Scout and they will

> tell you that almost

> anything can be used as a deadly weapon.  Just how

> much of our freedom are

> we willing to give up in order to FEEL safe?  Are

> the business travelers

> willing to give up their cell phones and laptops? 

> Because you will.  How

> about cameras?  Unless you can demonstrate that the

> camera really is a

> camera or open it for inspection, they will go too. 

> Writing instruments?

> Nope, they're sharp.  Knives and forks in first

> class or on dinner flights?

> Nope, soup of the day.  Do we all really want all of

> our possessions pawed

> over by overworked and underpaid security guards? 

> How about automatic

> weapon toting pseudo soldiers roaming the airports

> and guarding the gates

> and parking lots?  Sound radical?  Sound hysterical?

>  You bet!  Because

> that is what is overtaking the country right now. 

> Hysteria.  The gun

> toting guards are already a reality in many other

> countries.  Terrorists

> still manage to travel freely.  Why?  Because they

> know how to blend in and

> not draw attention.  Any determined terrorist or

> madman WILL get aboard a

> plane.  They WILL find a weapon, whether they bring

> it or find it.  And,

> they WILL threaten the passengers and crew, if that

> is their goal.  All the

> precautions in the world won't stop them.  Well,

> maybe if we strap everyone

> down for the flight and shoot anyone who tries to

> move.  What we, as a

> country need to realize, and FAST, is that unless we

> WANT to give up a

> significant amount of freedom, we will have to

> except a certain amount of

> risk.  We cannot be safe all the time.

> 

> Last night President Bush announced the

> establishment of a new cabinet

> position.  Office of Home Security.  Doesn't anyone

> remember the Red Scare?

> Doesn't anyone remember McCarthyism?

> 

> If we allow what happened to the US on September 11,

> 2001 to remove any our

> freedoms. Then we will have lost the entire

> conflict. The terrorists will

> HAVE accomplished their mission.  Any battles, wars

> or legal pronouncements

> from this point on are meaningless.  The war on

> terror will already be over

> and we will have given the terrorists everything

> they wanted.  Sure, we

> need to be more vigilant.  Yes, we needed to have

> our complacency shaken.

> And strange as it may sound, yes, this tragedy HAS

> brought the country

> together, for now.  But if we allow fear to guide

> our path from now on;

> this country, and all she stands for WILL fall.  We

> will have allowed fear

> to conquer us and America as well.

> 

> Please think about this in the days and months to

> come.  Winston Churchill

> said it best in the darkest hours of the Battle of

> Britain; "We nothing to

> fear, but fear itself".  The best thing we as

> Americans can do is continue

> as before.  Travel, continue business as usual.  Be

> a little more wary, and

> keep our eyes open, but don't let fear rule us. 

> Don't let fear rule our

> representatives in congress and in the

> Administration.

> 

> Thank you all in Radsafe for putting up with my

> rant, but don't just read

> it and delete it.  THINK about what I have said.

> 

> Peace to us all

> 

> Phil

> 

> "The opinions in this post are mine and mine alone,

> unless you agree with

> them and then they can be yours as well.  My

> employer has no say in my

> opinions, yet."

> 

> 

> 

> 

> Dear radsafe:

> 

> As many of you know already, there are x-ray

> machines

> used at some US prisons which are used to whole body

> x-ray persons entered the prisons.  These machines

> can

> detect ceramic/plastic knives and plastic explosive

> packages on the surface of bodies or even embedded

> inside the human body.  Perhaps these devices should

> be used at boarding areas at airports.

> 

> Do anyone know what the shallow/deep dose

> equivalents

> would be for a whole body x-ray scan which this type

> of system?

> 

> Would an electron beam tommography unit work in this

> type of application?  What would the dose equivalent

> be using this?

> 

> Thanks,

> 

> Paul Shafer

> 

> 

> 

> 

>

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