The prevented terrorist attack on a passenger jet traveling to Detroit, where the would be terrorist had explosives in his underwear, has got governments around the world arranging to install security scanners at airports in order to, hopefully, prevent any other suicidal terrorist from smuggling explosives onto commercial airlines.
Airport Body scanners use one ot two systems - millimeter wave sensors or backscatter X-rays. As nearly all security scanners installed are the backscatter X-ray type this article will be about them only. The question that both passengers and governments need to be asking but are not doing so is. Is the full body scanner safe to use? Will ordinary airline passengers who are scanned many times a year sustain any unfavorable consequences to their health?
X-rays:
X-rays, also called Rontgen Rays, are a form of ionizing radiation. If you have previously had an X-ray you will know that whilst the Radiologists takes the X-ray she stands behind a radiation proof screen to be able to shield herself from the ionizing radiation.
If you have had a X-ray whilst at the dentists you will discover that the Dentist will also stand behind a screen or get out of the room while the X-ray is taken. Radiologists and Dentists understand that subjection to X-rays can result in cancer.
As reported by Cancer Research UK. The percentage of cancers as a result of X-rays is 0.6 percent.
Mammograms:
Women at high-risk -- those with a genetic or inherited predisposition to breast tumors -- who have had five or more mammograms in their twenties were 2.5 times more prone to develop breast cancer than high-risk women that has not had any mammograms.
Older females at high risk increased their own chances of developing breast malignant tumors by 1.5 times because of mammograms. Basically, in high risk women, mammograms increase the chances of having breast cancer. The more mammograms that you have the greater the risk of having malignant tumors.
After reviewing the scientific data the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has made completely new recommendations regarding mammograms.
Particularly, that women younger than 50 should not have mammograms unless there is a good reason for doing so. That women over 50 really should only get them every other year. The radiation from mammograms may be low-dose radiation but it is nevertheless X-rays. The exact same kind of ionizing radiation used in backscatter X-ray full body scanners.
If getting a mammogram increases the chance of a woman developing breast cancer then how about the level of ionizing radiation a woman would receive if she were being scanned with a Backscatter X-ray full body scanning device each time she went on a trip upon a commercial airline.
CT Scans:
There is more than enough evidence to show that exposure to X-rays is harmful to your health and wellbeing. It would be advisable to lessen exposure to ionizing radiation whenever possible. One way to accomplish this would be to not have any kind of unnecessary medical X-rays. As an example some people have yearly full body CT scans as part of an annual health check-up.
According to a research report in the New England Journal of Medicine a third of every CT scans are medically not necessary. Considering that during the year 2006, in the US, there were more than 62 million CT scans, that means there were over twenty million needless CT scans carried out that year.
All of the airports will ultimately have body scanners installed for security reasons. You can currently opt out of the airport body scanner and get a pat-down, but this can change some time in the future since airports really want everyone to go through the body scanner.
If you travel on a regular basis then, based on the scientific evidence, you are going to be exposing yourself to X-rays which may cause you to suffer serious health problems.
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