| ■ Full-Body Airport Scanners No Health Threat: Experts | 2010.01.08 |
| While some are concerned about cumulative radiation exposure from full-body scanners used for airport security, most experts say such fears are unfounded, according to ABC News. Use of the scanners is expected to increase in the wake of the alleged failed bombing attempt on an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight on Christmas Day. The full-body scanners use a technology called backscatter X-rays, which deliver a low dose of radiation, explained Dr. James Thrall, chairman of the American College of Radiology and chairman of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. "Moreover, the individual X-rays themselves are very low energy, and unlike the X-ray spectrum that we use in medicine, the backscatter X-rays don't really penetrate to the organs in the body," he told ABC News. |