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Wide scale use of airport scanning a source of radiation danger

If you think of the entire population of, shall we say, a billion people per year going through these scanners, it’s very likely that some number of those will develop cancer from the radiation from these scanners,

Researchers sound alarm over radiation from body scanners Seattle News,  By Lindsay Cohen, November 15, 2010 They are scattered across the country, designed to keep you safe. You’ve heard how they might invade your privacy; now, some researchers are sounding the alarm about airport scanners and the radiation they give off.

Some scientists and two major pilots’ unions say researchers don’t know enough about the small doses of radiation given off by airport scanning machines that use backscatter X-ray technology.
Backscatters scans are used at Sea-Tac and some other airports. A second type – millimeter-wave machines – are used at the remaining airports across the U.S. The total number of imaging machines is expected to near 1,000 by the end of 2011, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

“If you think of the entire population of, shall we say, a billion people per year going through these scanners, it’s very likely that some number of those will develop cancer from the radiation from these scanners,” said David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University and a professor of radiation biophysics.

Brenner told CNN that while the risk of harmful radiation exposure from backscatter scans is very small, he is concerned about how widely the scanners will be used……..
The cumulative effect of additional radiation exposure on top of what we do flying the aircraft, over a 10- or 20- or 30-year career, begins to mount up,” said Dave Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association.

The APA joined the US Airline Pilots Association this week in urging union members not to submit to body scanners at airport security checkpoints. The unions, collectively, number some 16,000 members.

Some passengers at Sea-Tac shared a similar worry…….In April, a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, sent a letter to the government urging for independent studies to be done.

“The dose to the skin may be dangerously high,” wrote a team of scientists, adding that there could be risks to certain population segments, including children, senior citizens and women susceptible to breast cancer…..

Researchers sound alarm over radiation from body scanners | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News | Local & Regional

November 15, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive