- Oct 7, 2011
- 38,401
- 4,162
- 1,130
Don't laugh. It could actually be true.
TSA screening study leaves health questions unanswered.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins and other lawmakers recently asked the Transportation Security Administration to thoroughly study the health effects of its body scanners. Instead, like a nervous passenger, the agency seems to have opted out of that particular request.
Sen. Collins, along with other lawmakers, requested a new report to address the effects of TSAs ubiquitous full-body scanners on travelers in the United States. The X-ray body scanners use backscatter technology, meaning they emit tiny amounts of radiation to acquire images of travelers, sans clothing. That radiation might increase passengers risk of developing cancer.
This report is not the report I requested, Collins said in a statement to ProPublica. An independent study is needed to protect the public and to determine what technology is worthy of taxpayer dollars.
Instead of issuing a new, independent study, TSA instead relied on previous radiation tests, most of which have been available on the TSA website, reports ProPublica.
TSAs reports, though outdated, did uncover that not all of the agencys human screeners have passed the required radiation training. This lack of training, the report says, might have led to potentially dangerous inconsistencies in machine calibration. Within their first years of usage, the machines on average needed service several times per month.
TSA has glossed over the scientific nuance in declaring the machines safe, ProPublica wrote in an earlier story. The U.S. is the only country that deploys X-ray machines to screen passengers.
Even the Food and Drug Administration went against its own advisory panel in allowing the machines to fall under voluntary standards, ProPublica noted.
Read more: TSA | X-ray Screeners | Health Risks | The Daily Caller
TSA screening study leaves health questions unanswered.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins and other lawmakers recently asked the Transportation Security Administration to thoroughly study the health effects of its body scanners. Instead, like a nervous passenger, the agency seems to have opted out of that particular request.
Sen. Collins, along with other lawmakers, requested a new report to address the effects of TSAs ubiquitous full-body scanners on travelers in the United States. The X-ray body scanners use backscatter technology, meaning they emit tiny amounts of radiation to acquire images of travelers, sans clothing. That radiation might increase passengers risk of developing cancer.
This report is not the report I requested, Collins said in a statement to ProPublica. An independent study is needed to protect the public and to determine what technology is worthy of taxpayer dollars.
Instead of issuing a new, independent study, TSA instead relied on previous radiation tests, most of which have been available on the TSA website, reports ProPublica.
TSAs reports, though outdated, did uncover that not all of the agencys human screeners have passed the required radiation training. This lack of training, the report says, might have led to potentially dangerous inconsistencies in machine calibration. Within their first years of usage, the machines on average needed service several times per month.
TSA has glossed over the scientific nuance in declaring the machines safe, ProPublica wrote in an earlier story. The U.S. is the only country that deploys X-ray machines to screen passengers.
Even the Food and Drug Administration went against its own advisory panel in allowing the machines to fall under voluntary standards, ProPublica noted.
Read more: TSA | X-ray Screeners | Health Risks | The Daily Caller
