Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety Warns on Airbort Body Scans
Bloombergreports that the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety is warning that the public should be informed that people will receive a dose of radiation from the new Backscatter x-ray body scanning technology. The Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety also says pregnant women and children should not be subject scanning.
Pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is "extremely small," said the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety report, which is restricted to the agencies concerned and not meant for public circulation. The group includes the European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.
A more accurate assessment about the health risks of the screening won’t be possible until governments decide whether all passengers will be systematically scanned or randomly selected, the report said. Governments must justify the additional risk posed to passengers, and should consider "other techniques to achieve the same end without the use of ionizing radiation."
The government may try to pass off the new scanners as safe but there is no question that radiation is cumulative and dangerous. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that frequent exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cancer and birth defects.
Bloomberg 
