Full Body Airport Scanners Pose too High a Risk to Human Health
- by: Kristine Mattis
- recipient: TSA - Transportation Security Administration and FDA - Food and Drug Administration
The debate over full body scanners soon to be used at airports throughout the U.S. (and the world) has been focused on issues of invasion of privacy and "sexually explicit" imagery of passengers. The media's preoccupation with privacy issues has overshadowed the more important concern with these devices: human health risks.
The scanners - both backscatter x-ray and millimeter wave machines - can put humans at risk by damaging DNA, which could lead to increased rates of the already epidemic incidences of cancer. Much like CT scans, which are now widely overused and have been proven to contribute to cancer by scientists at Columbia, Harvard, and the University of California-San Francisco, full body scanners have been implemented without any proper long term safety assessments whatsoever by the FDA
Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety's Dana Drabova has said that these scanners are too risky because even small doses of radiation may lead to cancer. Boian S. Alexandrov and colleagues at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated that millimeter wave machines may interfere with DNA replication and gene expression.
In addition to the danger to passengers, airport security workers who will be in close proximity to these scanning devices will likely be at the highest risk for detrimental health effects. Will they be secluded in nearby rooms to protect themselves from ambient x-rays - as doctors and dentists are when they utilize radiation technologies?
With cancer occurrences at catastrophic rates in the United States, this technology is an unacceptable risk - especially for those of us who have already experienced the devastation of cancer. The number of people suffering and dying of cancer is exponentially larger than the number of people who have been harmed by terrorist attacks. There are numerous other options for providing air safety for passengers. For the protection of human health and safety, we should use the precautionary principle in the case of full body scanners.
Please tell the FDA and the TSA to ban full body scanners from mandatory use in our airports.
The debate over full body scanners soon to be used at airports throughout the U.S. (and the world) has been focused on issues of invasion of privacy and "sexually explicit" imagery of passengers. The media's preoccupation with privacy issues has overshadowed the more important concern with these devices: human health risks.
The scanners - both backscatter x-ray and millimeter wave machines - can put humans at risk by damaging DNA, which could lead to increased rates of the already epidemic incidences of cancer. Much like CT scans, which are now widely overused and have been proven to cause cancer by scientists at Columbia, Harvard, and the University of California-San Francisco, full body scanners have been implemented without any proper long term safety assessments whatsoever by the FDA
Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety's Dana Drabova has said that these scanners are too risky because even small doses of radiation may lead to cancer. Boian S. Alexandrov and colleagues at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated that millimeter wave machines may interfere with DNA replication and gene expression.
In addition to the danger to passengers, airport security workers who will be in close proximity to these scanning devices will likely be at the highest risk for detrimental health effects. Will they be secluded in nearby rooms to protect themselves from ambient x-rays - as doctors and dentists are when they utilize radiation technologies?
With cancer occurrences at catastrophic rates in the United States, this technology is an unacceptable risk - especially for those of us who have already experienced the devastation of cancer. The number of people suffering and dying of cancer is exponentially larger than the number of people who have been harmed by terrorist attacks. There are numerous other options for providing air safety for passengers. For the protection of human health and safety, we should use the precautionary principle in the case of full body scanners.
Please ban full body scanners from mandatory use in our airports.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
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