PatColo
17th November 2011, 01:07 AM
EU bans 'naked' airport security scanners after cancer fears (http://www.metro.co.uk/news/881978-eu-bans-naked-airport-security-scanners-after-cancer-fears)
X-ray body scanners at airports have been banned by Brussels amid fears they could cause cancer.
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/16/article-1321481186137-06CE03BB000005DC-633341_466x447.jpg The scanners, introduced in 2009, are also said by critics to be too invasive (Picture: Getty)
The devices, widely criticised because they make passengers who go through them appear naked, emit low doses of radiation. The EU has now told member states not to install them until a scientific assessment of the risks has been carried out.
Manchester airport, which has 16 of the £80,000 machines and bars anyone refusing a scan from boarding a flight, has been told it can continue using them for another year. However, no new machines will be allowed to ‘protect citizens’ health and safety’.
The body scanners were introduced in a security crackdown after incidents such as the attempted ‘underwear bomb’ plot in 2009.
They were used at Heathrow but scrapped amid complaints about invasion of privacy. They have also been tested in Germany, France, Italy, Finland and Holland but will be completely banned in April if experts rule they are dangerous.
Research suggests up to 100 US airline passengers a year could get cancer from the scanners. Britain, which argues the scans are a ‘proportionate response to a very real terrorist threat’, could be hit with a fine from the European courts if it ignores the ban. The Health Protection Agency said: ‘The radiation dose from an examination of two or three scans is less than that received from two minutes flying at cruising altitude.’
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/881978-eu-bans-naked-airport-security-scanners-after-cancer-fears
X-ray body scanners at airports have been banned by Brussels amid fears they could cause cancer.
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/16/article-1321481186137-06CE03BB000005DC-633341_466x447.jpg The scanners, introduced in 2009, are also said by critics to be too invasive (Picture: Getty)
The devices, widely criticised because they make passengers who go through them appear naked, emit low doses of radiation. The EU has now told member states not to install them until a scientific assessment of the risks has been carried out.
Manchester airport, which has 16 of the £80,000 machines and bars anyone refusing a scan from boarding a flight, has been told it can continue using them for another year. However, no new machines will be allowed to ‘protect citizens’ health and safety’.
The body scanners were introduced in a security crackdown after incidents such as the attempted ‘underwear bomb’ plot in 2009.
They were used at Heathrow but scrapped amid complaints about invasion of privacy. They have also been tested in Germany, France, Italy, Finland and Holland but will be completely banned in April if experts rule they are dangerous.
Research suggests up to 100 US airline passengers a year could get cancer from the scanners. Britain, which argues the scans are a ‘proportionate response to a very real terrorist threat’, could be hit with a fine from the European courts if it ignores the ban. The Health Protection Agency said: ‘The radiation dose from an examination of two or three scans is less than that received from two minutes flying at cruising altitude.’
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/881978-eu-bans-naked-airport-security-scanners-after-cancer-fears