RSS FeedBetter than Body Scanners
Despite all the hype about body scanners, there are some very significant limitations to their use.
One issue is limitation of use on children, which can violate child pornography laws. Statements by Canadian officials that there haven’t been any incidents involving children yet is not very reassuring, especially in this industry where mitigation and prevention are the appropriate benchmarks.
A more significant concern is that body scanners is that they are not very effective for ingested or internally placed hazards (i.e. other cavities).
Wired has a technological solution that would address these concerns, without the same privacy issues, through diffraction-enhanced X-ray imaging (DEXI).
Although some may protest the additional radiation exposure, it’s a valid trade-off in my opinion. Depending on the duration and frequency of flights, many travelers would have more radiation exposure from flying than these machines. My radiation exposure working in diagnostic imaging was frequently lower than commercial airline employees.
