Antinuclear

Airport scanners not only radiation risk, but are not effective security either

Australia is one of several nations that have begun to test or install full-body scanners

[Australia will be getting the “backscatter” ionising radiation type, (at left below) not the safer radio-wave type, (at right below) ]

Fears over fatal flaws in full-body airport scanners The Age Derek Kravitz, Washington December 27, 2010 US SECURITY experts have questioned the ability of full-body scanners to detect modern chemical explosives taped to a passenger’s abdomen or hidden in a cavity.

The full-body scanners – planned for some Australian airports in 2011 – can detect small amounts of contraband and hidden weapons but could miss something far more deadly……

……..A third of a kilogram of a type of malleable explosive that could be discovered with a pat-down, would be missed, the scientists said. ”It’s not an explosives detector; it’s an anomaly detector,” said Clark Ervin, who runs the Homeland Security Program at the Aspen Institute. ”Someone has to notice that there’s something out of order.”

Based partly on early successes, federal officials are planning to continue an unprecedented rollout of the technology over the next year. By New Year’s Day, about 500 machines will be in use across the US. By the end of next year, 1000 X-ray machines will be operational, accounting for about half of the nation’s 2000 lanes of security checkpoints.

Australia is one of several nations that have begun to test or install full-body scanners, already in use at 78 US airports. Others include Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia and Britain………

Two types of scanning machines – backscatter and millimetre wave – have been installed at American airports since 2007, when they were launched as part of a pilot program at Phoenix Sky Harbour International Airport. Both machines produce the controversial full-body images by bouncing X-rays or radio waves off skin or concealed objects…..

Fears over fatal flaws in full-body airport scanners

December 27, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, safety