Scientists voice concern over health risks from full body scanners

Full body scanner

No longer is it just bloggers, activists and anti-government conspiracy theorists that are concerned about full body scanners in our nation’s airports. Now, a group of worried scientists from the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) have called upon the White House to take a close look at these X-ray scanners.

In a letter sent to the Office of Science and Technology, the scientists -- who are experts in the field of biochemistry, biophysics, imaging, cancer and crystals -- raise serious concerns regarding the safety of full body scanners. 

The technology being used puts people at increased risk of cancer, the scientists believe, among other health problems. This is especially true, according the scientists, for older travelers, women who are expecting and individuals with weak immune systems.

The UCSF group, which includes Dr. Marc Shuman, John Sedat, David Agard and Robert Stroud, have asked that the President put together an independent panel to look into the possible risks.

Even guest columnists who have contributed their musings to GSN: Government Security News have voiced their concern over the scanners. On May 6, Rafi Sela, President of AR Challenges, wrote in an editorial featured in GSN’s Homeland Security Insider entitled, “Airport security and body scanners – a new paradigm?” in which he points out that the body scanners “do not solve the whole threat [of terrorism], only a part of it. Such systems make lines longer and no one really knows yet if the radiation emitted is safe.”

Officials at DHS say the scientists’ concern is misplaced. Dr. Alexander Garza, the assistant secretary for health affairs and chief medical officer for the department, said he has no qualms about putting his own family through the airport scanners when they travel.

“The risk is so low it’s almost negligible,” he said, adding that all passengers have the right to forgo the scanner and instead undergo a full-body pat-down search.

By the end of next year, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) hopes to have up to 1,000 full-body scanners to screen passengers at airports across the U.S.

The letter from the California university scientists comes on the heels of a new Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) report issued by the Customs and Border Patrol that studied “the environmental effects of using truck-mounted and stationary High Energy X-ray systems to inspect cargo containers at U.S. seaports and land ports of entry, and [which] concluded that ‘there will be no significant, adverse effects to the human environment as long as identified mitigation measures are followed,’” as GSN: Government Security News reported on May 25.