More fodder for the cancer industry: Scientists Warn Naked Body Scanners May Cause Cancer

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Scientists Warn Naked Body Scanners May Cause Cancer

" They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to

get skin cancer from these X-rays, " says a Hopkins University

doctor.

November 14, 2010  |  

http://www.alternet.org/rights/148849/scientists_warn_naked_body_scanners_may_ca\

use_cancer

WASHINGTON

— US scientists warned Friday that the full-body, graphic-image X-ray

scanners that are being used to screen passengers and airline crews at

airports around the country may be unsafe.

" They

say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin

cancer from these X-rays, " Dr Love, who runs an X-ray lab at

the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at s Hopkins

University school of medicine, told AFP.

" No

exposure to X-ray is considered beneficial. We know X-rays are

hazardous but we have a situation at the airports where people are so

eager to fly that they will risk their lives in this manner, " he said.

The

possible health dangers posed by the scanners add to passengers and

airline crews' concerns about the devices, which have been dubbed

" naked " scanners because of the graphic image they give of a person's

body, genitalia and all.

A

regional airline pilot last month refused to go through one of the

scanners, calling it an " assault on my person " and a violation of his

right to privacy.

The

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began rolling out

full-body scanners at US airports in 2007, but stepped up deployment of

the devices this year when stimulus funding made it possible to buy

another 450 of the advanced imaging technology scanners.

A

group of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco

(UCSF) raised concerns about the " potential serious health risks " from

the scanners in a letter sent to the White House Office of Science and

Technology in April.

Biochemist

Sedat and his colleagues said in the letter that most of the

energy from the scanners is delivered to the skin and underlying tissue.

" While

the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of

the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high, " they

wrote.

The Office of Science

and Technology responded this week to the scientists' letter, saying

the scanners have been " tested extensively " by US government agencies

and were found to meet safety standards.

But Sedat told AFP Friday that the official response was " deeply flawed. "

" We

still don't know the beam intensity or other details of their

classified system, " he said, adding that UCSF scientists were preparing

a rebuttal to the White House statement.

Some 315 " naked " scanners are currently in use at 65 US airports, according to

the TSA.

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senses.You cannot do all the good the world needs,thus the world needs all the

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