»»Full-body Scanners Could Increase Cancer Risk, Experts Warn
Several newspapers around the world this week reported on a possible cancer risk from full-body scanners. The London based the Daily Mail reports: “But experts say radiation from the scanners has been underestimated and could be particularly risky for children.
They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body – that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated. Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University’s centre for radiological research, said although the danger posed to the individual passenger is ‘very low’, he is urging researchers to carry out more tests on the device to look at the way it affects specific groups who could be more sensitive to radiation.”
Australia’s news.com.au. writes: “Of further concern is that a failure in the device – like a power or software glitch – could cause an intense radiation dose to a single spot on the skin.”
The Digital Journal of Toronto quoted University of California biochemist David Agard as saying “while the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high”. The newspaper adds: “U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials have tried allaying concerns, claiming that people would have to take thousands of trips through the scanners to equal the dose from one X-ray scan in a hospital, but have not addressed concerns raised by the researchers.”
