TSA Puts Off Safety Study of X-ray Body Scanners

[The Northerner]

The head of the Transportation Security Administration has backed off a public commitment to conduct a new independent study of X-ray body scanners used at airport security lanes around the country.

Earlier this month, a ProPublica/PBS NewsHour investigation found that the TSA had glossed over research <1> that the X-ray scanners could lead to a small number of cancer cases. The scanners emit low levels of ionizing radiation, which has been shown to damage DNA. In addition, several safety reviewers who initially advised the government on the scanners said they had concerns about the machines being used, as they are today, on millions of airline passengers.

At a Senate hearing after the story ran, TSA Administrator John Pistole agreed to a request by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to conduct a new independent study <2> of the health effects of the X-ray scanners, also known as backscatters.

But at a Senate hearing <3> of a different committee last week, Pistole said he had since received a draft report on the machines by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, or IG, that might render the independent study unnecessary.

Read more: http://www.propublica.org/article/tsa-puts-off-safety-study-of-x-ray-body-scanners

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[kentauros]

2. "exposure"?

;)

Interesting they'd do this on the same day that the EU decided to not use those scanners at all. Is this TSA's way of thumbing their noses at everyone?

[Eric J in MN]

3. If the TSA hires the company which does the study...

...it won't truly be independent, anyway.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, should ask the GAO to hire a company to study the safety of X-ray scanners.

[barbtries]

4. jerks.

they won't get me into one of those again (i did once only because my son had already been through it and i didn't want to refuse at the moment). they'll just have to feel me up. bastards.

[BadgerKid]

5. We don't need no stinking self-regulation.

Especially if there's any chance 2012 will render all regulation moot.

Not being defeatist, just seeing it from their imagined POV.

[KoKo]

6. K&R...Another broken commitment..another delay... K&R!

[unhappycamper]

7. The TSA probably put this study off because

the Europeans banned the damn thing.


Europe Bans X-Ray Body Scanners Used at U.S. Airports
by Michael Grabell
ProPublica, Nov. 15, 2011, 3:45 p.m.

The European Union on Monday prohibited the use of X-ray body scanners in European airports, parting ways with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which has deployed hundreds of the scanners as a way to screen millions of airline passengers for explosives hidden under clothing.

The European Commission, which enforces common policies of the EU's 27 member countries, adopted the rule “in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety.”

As a ProPublica/PBS NewsHour investigation detailed earlier this month, X-ray body scanners use ionizing radiation, a form of energy that has been shown to damage DNA and cause cancer. Although the amount of radiation is extremely low, equivalent to the radiation a person would receive in a few minutes of flying, several research studies have concluded that a small number of cancer cases would result from scanning hundreds of millions of passengers a year.

European countries will be allowed to use an alternative body scanner, on that relies on radio frequency waves, which have not been linked to cancer. The TSA has also deployed hundreds of those machines – known as millimeter-wave scanners – in U.S. airports. But unlike Europe, it has decided to deploy both types of scanners.