Are TSA agents working around the scanners allowed to wear dosimeters?

[Fumesucker]

According to this post they are not..

http://www.sciencefriday.com/blog/2010/09/airport-screeners-denied-radiation-badges/

I continue to wonder why those TSA folks who stand by x-ray machines for a whole day do not know how much radiation they are exposed to. Last weekend, one of them told me she asked for a common radiation badge and was told she could not wear one.

This weekend, when traveling through the airport at Buffalo, NY I happened upon one of those new whole body x-ray scanners. Refusing to be screened that way, I chose for a full body pat-down. Upon gathering up my stuff, I asked one of the screeners if she knew how much radiation she was exposed to each day. She said she did not know and wanted to wear one of the badges that her friend wears at a local hospital, but was told “no,” that would not be permitted. She was upset with that decision.

Why do dentists, doctors, med techs, etc.. who work in other x-ray environments gladly wear these exposure detectors on their clothing but TSA employees do not or cannot?

Sure the baggage x-ray machines are supposed to emit no “harmful” levels of radiation, but how would we know if they are working properly, or how much the workers are actually receive, if they are not allowed to wear them. Or better yet, why are they not required to wear them for their own safety?

[notesdev]

1. The rules are made

by people who plan not to either be the ones executing the policy nor to be subject to it.

As a result, the policy is batshit insane.

[karynnj]

11. The vast majority of the people who wrote the laws are subject to it

Only very small number are exempt - the leadership who have security. At the hearing last week, a John Hopkins study said - and CNN repeated it often - that the exposure was equivalent to what you get in a small number of minutes in flight. The privacy issues are more troublesome.

[LisaL]

2. I am going to guess TSA doesn't want travelers to see radiation

signs in the airport, because, face it, more people would refuse to get into one of the x-ray machines if TSA workers were wearing radiations signs.

[jdlh8894]

3. These are NOT X-Ray Machines ,people!

They are only scanners! On any of the images that are being shown,have you seen any bones? Or pins? Metal plates? Gold teeth or bridge work? DAMN! Get over this!!!

On edit-Go to the back page of an old comic book and order "x-ray glasses"
Just about the same effect!

[Fumesucker]

4. About 60 percent of the scanners use X rays..

The other 40 percent use millimeter wave radiation..

You should really educate yourself about a subject before spouting off..

[jdlh8894]

5. Where are you getting those %'s? Link please?n/t

[Matariki]

6. It's easily searchable on Google.

And it's been posted at DU over and over. At this point you should look it up yourself - before you post stuff that is inaccurate.

[Fumesucker]

7. I read it on another blog..

Here's a link that says "about half" are x ray machines..

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/18/ap/health/main7067733.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CBSNewsTheEarlyShowBooks+(CBS+News:+The+Early+Show:+Books)

About half are what are known as millimeter-wave units, made by L-3 Communications, which are not the focus of safety concerns because they emit a less potent kind of radiation. The remaining machines are Rapiscan System's "backscatter" scanners, which emit X-ray-like ionizing radiation. This kind of radiation in larger doses can cause cell changes leading to cancer.

[jdlh8894]

14. emit X-ray-like ionizing radiation

X-ray LIKE? Is that kinda like Pepsi is LIKE Coke?GM is LIKE a Ford?
Snow looks LIKE cocaine. And in larger doses could likely lead to the Big "C"?
You probably get more radiation just walking or driving around ATL in a day than you will receive from a "backscanner".

[Fumesucker]

15. X rays are indeed ionizing radiation..

And if the mechanical scan of the X rays breaks in the machine you could receive a radiation burn in a small area..

The X ray beam is moved mechanically over the surface of the body, much like the electron beam in a cathode ray tube is scanned over the inside surface of the phosphors to create the flying spot of the old style television..

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126833083

"Many people will approach this as, 'Oh, it must be safe, the government has thought about this and I'll just submit to it,'" says David Agard, a biochemist and biophysicist at the University of California, San Francisco. "But there really is no threshold of low dose being OK. Any dose of X-rays produces some potential risk."

Agard and several of his UCSF colleagues recently wrote a letter to John Holdren the president's science adviser, asking for a more thorough look at the risks of exposing all those airline passengers to X-rays. The other signers are John Sedat, a molecular biologist and the group's leader; Marc Shuman, a cancer specialist; and Robert Stroud, a biochemist and biophysicist.

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

The San Francisco group thinks both the machine's manufacturer, Rapiscan, and government officials have miscalculated the dose that the X-ray scanners deliver to the skin — where nearly all the radiation is concentrated.

[jdlh8894]

16. Would love to stay and discuss.

But have to go. Maybe later?

[DainBramaged]

9. Are you a lobbyist? Paid consultant to the TSA? Work for L-3 Communications or Rapiscan Systems Inc?

Because if you knew anything about these scanners you'd KNOW they use radiation to penetrate the clothing of the individuals targeted by the TSA.

[uncle ray]

13. ok then, lets's just equip TSA workers with those comic book x-ray glasses then.

sometimes laypeople have the most brilliant ideas.

[MedicalAdmin]

8. Time to call OSHA.

And get an investigation started.

[Fumesucker]

10. OSHA versus DHS.. Hmmm....

I wonder who will win that particular bureaucratic turf war? :shrug:

[kestrel91316]

12. Somebody needs to get OSHA involved. They take a very dim view of

unnecessary exposure of employees to radiation. Dosimeters should be MANDATORY to guard against poor technique and equipment malfunction.

What kind of shielding is provided to ensure that travelers and TSA employees are not CONTINUOUSLY exposed to scatter from the equipment???