Are Body Scanners More Dangerous Than The Feds Declare?
I'M FROM THE GOVERNMENT…
The sensible declaration of President Ronald Reagan, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help you.'" occur in my thoughts when I contemplate the mounting uproar with reference to the Transportation Security Administration's new-found course of action of scanning of the bodies of airport users.
ELEVATED DOSES OF RADIATION FROM TSA BODY SCANNERS A SOURCE FOR TREPIDATION
A faction of experts voiced their concern to Obama's science and technology adviser John Holdren. Dr. John W. Sedat, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, in a well-thought-out epistle was joined by three other similarly credentialed faculty members in expressing their concerns in that letter dated April 6, 2010. In that communication they articulated "concerns about the potential serious health risks" concerning the "the dose to the skin may be dangerously high" that the TSA is administering at airports around the country. In that letter they noted that radiation mushrooms cancer dangers by damaging the DNA and various components in the cells.
WHAT THE RADIATION INVADES, NOT THE DOSAGE, IS WHAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
The scanners the Transportation Safety Administration operates focus most of the energy on the surface of the skin and infiltrate a few millimeters into the skin. The apprehension is that there are a number of very radiation-sensitive tissues close to the skin such as testes, eyes, and circulating blood.
In light of this, it appears unreliable to assert that the quantity being administered is a 1000 times less than a chest X-ray, or, that it is a lot less than what airline customers are subjected to in-flight. It is the quantity of the tissue exposed that matters when potential effects of possible radiation damage is evaluated.
ARE YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE, IN ONE OF THESE GROUPS?
Infants, little kids, pregnant women, seniors, individuals having impaired immunity (those with HIV infection, cancer patients, people with immune deficiency diseases, and people with abnormal DNA repair mechanism are some categories of those that are at a more elevated risk than the general public. At this time the TSA is not differentiating between these groups and others based on the hazards.
Seniors are also in a special status when it comes to radiation exposure. Their DNA accumulates a considerable quantity of unrepaired damage, to the point that even small doses of radiation can trigger the growth of skin cancers, including melanoma which can have the potential of becoming life threatening. Subjecting their eyes to low doses of radiation is also a concern, since exposure to radiation may well increase their threat of developing cataracts.
YOU CANNOT RELY ON THE AUTHORITIES
Remember when the American College of Radiology give surety us that the CT scans were safe and sound and that the radiation was the equivalent of one chest X-ray. At the present we have learned that the dose that is in a CT scan is equal to one thousand chest X-rays. Based on history, it can pretty much be predicted that when the real effects of these full body scanners on wellbeing become identified, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and the rest of the "officials" who contend the scanners are not dangerous will have made themselves scarce.
Community Health Center Association of CT