Antinuclear

Airport radiation scanning – skin cancer risk

unlike other scanners, the radiation from these devices is delivered at low energy beam levels, with most of the dose concentrated in 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,”

Full-body airport scanners ‘as likely to kill you as terrorist bombs’ By Kate Schneider  news.com.au *November 26, 2010 CONTROVERSIAL full-body airport scanners are just as likely to kill you as a terrorist’s bomb exploding on your plane, a leading scientist says.

Peter Rez, a physics professor at Arizona State University, US, said the probability of dying from cancer caused by radiation from a body scanner and that of being killed in a terror attack are both approximately one in 30 million.

The risk is less than that of being killed by a lightning strike.

Dr Rez argues that it doesn’t make sense to deploy the scanners based on such low odds.

“The probability is about the same as the thing you are trying to prevent,” Dr Rez said.

“So my view is there is not a case to be made for deploying them to prevent such a low probability event.”

Dr Rez said that what most concerns him about the machines is that a potential malfunction could increase the radiation dose.

“The thing that worries me the most, is not what happens if the machine works as advertised, but what happens if it doesn’t.”

Having studied the radiation doses of the scanners using the images produced by the devices, he claims that the doses are often higher than claimed by authorities.

While the Transport Security Administration says the amount of radiation from scans amounts to about a thousandth of the amount of a standard chest x-ray, Dr Rez’s calculations put the exposure figure at about one-fifth to one-hundredth.

US scientists have warned that radiation from the scanners has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer – particularly in children.

University of California biochemist David Agard said that unlike other scanners, the radiation from these devices is delivered at low energy beam levels, with most of the dose concentrated in 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,” Dr Agard said.

“Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer.”

Of further concern is that a failure in the device – like a power or software glitch – could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin.

The warnings come ahead of the planned rollout of the scanners in Australia next year as part of the Federal Government’s crackdown on airport security.

David Brenner, the head of Columbia University’s Centre for Radiological Research, says the concentration on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the body – means the radiation dose is actually 20 times higher than the official estimate.

Full-body airport scanners ‘as likely to kill you as terrorist bombs’ | News.com.au

November 26, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized | antinuclear, Australia, cancer, radiation