Current Science Issue Article Review

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Body Scanners: Are They Safe?

Articles discussed:

Tanner, Lindsay, (November 18, 2010). "Gov't says full body scanners are safe." USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/cancer/2010-11-18-scanner-radiation_N.htm. (Accessed 30 November, 2010)

There has been much debate over the Transportation Security Administration's airport security procedures due to the holiday travel season. Most of the recent debate has involved the invasiveness of the full-body pat down, or the detailed nature of the images taken by the new full-body scanners. But as these scanners begin to appear in more and more airports, we also need to make sure the scanners are safe for the people who pass through them, since they emit radiation.

The government insists that the new devices are indeed safe. Tanner, writing for USA Today, that a panel of independent experts has vouched for the safety of these devices, saying that they are not a threat as long as the radiation is kept within the recommended limits.
She notes "The Transportation Security Administration says radiation from one scan is about the same as a person would get from flying for about three minutes in an airplane at 30,000 feet, where atmospheric radiation levels are higher than on the ground. That amount is vastly lower than a single dental X-ray (November 2010)." According to the TSA, a person would have to go through one of those scanners more than a 1000 times a year to get a dangerous dose of radiation, something that even pilots do not do. As Stephens notes in the Examiner, "Back to x-rays, there's no reason to dispute the FDA and body scanner manufacturers' claims that it's equivalent to a 2-4-minute extension of your flight. When exposed, you are, after all, headed for an airplane and cheerfully exposing….....

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