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Taking A Trip By Commercial Airlines Could Mean Close Encounters With Airport Full Body Scanners
The prevented terrorist attack on a passenger jet going to Detroit, where the would be terrorist had explosives in his underwear, has got governments around the world deciding to install full body scanners at airports in order to, hopefully, stop any other suicidal terrorist from taking explosives onto commercial airlines.
Airport Security scanners use one ot two technologies - 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 really should be wanting to know but are not doing so is. Is the full body scanner safe to use? Will regular airline passengers who are scanned several times a year suffer any detrimental consequences to their health?
X-rays:
X-rays, also called Rontgen Rays, are a form of ionizing radiation. If you have ever had an X-ray you will know that while the Radiologists takes a X-ray he stands at the back of a radiation proof screen in order to protect herself from the ionizing radiation.
If you have had a X-ray while at the dentists you will see that the Dentist will also stand at the back a screen or leave the room while the X-ray is taken. Radiologists and Dental practitioners know that exposure to X-rays can result in cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK. The percentage of cancers due to X-rays is 0.6 percent.
Mammograms:
Most women at high risk -- individuals with a genetic or familial predisposition to breast tumors -- who have had five or more mammograms in their twenties were found to be 2.5 times more likely to develop breast malignant tumors than high-risk women who has not had any mammograms.
Older females at high-risk increased their likelihood of developing breast cancer by 1.5 times because of mammograms. Basically, in high risk women, mammograms increase the chances of having breast cancer. The greater the number of mammograms you have the higher the risk of getting malignant tumors.
After reviewing the scientific data the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has published new suggestions regarding mammograms.
Specifically, that women younger than 50 should not have mammograms unless there is a good reason for doing so. That women above 50 should only get them every second year. The radiation from mammograms may be low-dose radiation but it is still X-rays. The exact same kind of ionizing radiation used in backscatter X-ray full body scanners.
If getting a mammogram raises the risk of a female developing breast cancer then what about the level of ionizing radiation a woman would receive if she were being scanned using a Backscatter X-ray full body scanner each time she went on a journey upon a commercial airline.
CT Scans:
There is more than enough evidence to show that exposure to X-rays is harmful for your health. It might be advisable to reduce exposure to ionizing radiation whenever possible. One way to do this would be to not have any kind of unneeded medical X-rays. For example some individuals have annual full body CT scans as part of an annual health check-up.
According to a research report in the New England Journal of Medicine one third of all CT scans will be medically unnecessary. Considering that during the year 2006, in the US, there were greater than 62 million CT scans, this means that there were over 20 million needless CT scans performed that year.
All 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, however this may change any time in the future as airports really want everyone to go through the scanner.
If you travel frequently then, according to the medical evidence, you will be exposing yourself to X-rays which may cause you to suffer serious health problems.
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