Virtual Position Forum
Please register to watch content in detail
Thanks
Admin virtual position


Join the forum, it's quick and easy

Virtual Position Forum
Please register to watch content in detail
Thanks
Admin virtual position
Virtual Position Forum
Would you like to react to this message? Create an account in a few clicks or log in to continue.

Airport body scanners not a health risk: study

View previous topic View next topic Go down

GMT + 3 Hours Airport body scanners not a health risk: study

Post by Rao Muhammad Aftab Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:51 pm

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]




WASHINGTON: Full-body scanners used to secure airports, about 1,000 of which will be deployed across the United States by year's end, do not pose health risks, a study released has found.

The University of California study appearing in the "Archives of Internal Medicine" found that a traveler would have to go through a body scanner 50 times to receive the same amount of radiation as from a dental X-ray.

The researchers also said a lung X-ray was equivalent to 1,000 trips through an airport scanner, while a mammogram delivers as much radiation as passing through such a scanner 4,000 times.

The study focused on x-ray machines dubbed "backscatter" which use low-dose x-rays, similar to those used in medical imaging. So far there are some 486 full-body scanners in place in 78 US airports.

"The radiation doses emitted by the scans are extremely small; the scans deliver an amount of radiation equivalent to 3 to 9 minutes of the radiation received through normal daily living," the authors wrote.

And "since flying itself increases exposure to ionizing radiation, the scan will contribute less than one percent of the dose a flyer will receive from exposure to cosmic rays at elevated altitudes," they added.

"The estimation of cancer risks associated with these scans is difficult, but using the only available models, the risk would be extremely small, even among frequent flyers. We conclude that there is no significant threat of radiation from the scans," they wrote.

Advanced imaging technology X-ray scanners currently in use at airports around the United States sparked an uproar among travelers because they produce a graphic image of a person's naked body, genitalia and all.

Others have worried the scans might be unsafe. (AFP)
Rao Muhammad Aftab
Rao Muhammad Aftab
Monstars
Monstars

Pisces Snake
Posts : 1091
Join date : 2011-02-11
Age : 35

Back to top Go down

View previous topic View next topic Back to top

- Similar topics

Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum