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PiscesWill TSA Screenings Make Holiday Travel a Nightmare?
Guest blogger Kate Tuttle: It's not enough this year to stress out about how many diapers to pack, or what snacks the little ones will reliably eat, or whether or not to download multiple episodes of "Yo Gabba Gabba." For those of us flying for the holidays this year, the new TSA security screenings -- and the high level of attention they're getting in the media and online -- have added a new thing to worry about. Here's what you need to know.
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Millimeter machines are also of concern. They can unzip DNA and they have been shown to accelerate cancer.
If you don’t want to be scanned the solution is simple…don’t fly.
CreoleInDC , if I want to visit relatives across the pond, what shall I do? Swim?
Unless Canada is implementing these same idiotic methods, we plan to drive from the US to Canada and fly to our various international destinations from there.
How often are you flying? Considering the other things we do, day in and day out, to our bodies(SMOKING for one)…a once or twice a year scan seems negligable. As for the embarrassment..please the person in a private room sees a blurred outline of things….I dare say my Gynocologist has quite the view by comparison! They are just trying to keep us safe, it is not some conspiracy to see us all nude(most of us are just not that appealling!!HA!)
Everyday there is a new “threat” to our everyday life, I am so over it…most of these things are just not worth it!
The ability to get on an airplane is not a god given right or a freedom. Air travel is a business that is monitored by the government. Just like driving a car, the government puts laws, restrictions, and safety/security enforcments in place. Basically, if you don’t like it don’t fly. Yes, you may miss out on seeing people or places unreachable by place, but, hey, that’s your choice.
But when I put my children on a plane, I want to make sure that the airplane is safe. If that means running them thru a microwave scanner along with all the other travelers, then so be it. Better microwave waves than a bomb, or other weapon.
Jilly I get what you are saying but what about the business traveler like my husband who flys several times a week or month. How much radiation is too much? How much is ok? What do we really know about this type of technology? How many “naked pictures” does he have to endure?
Ok, here’s a different take. I see the entire procedure as invasive and an infraction on my privacy. The accumulated REMS are not an issue unless you fly all the time, so radiation issues do not bother me much, but the privacy issues do. Thing is, the millimeter wave technology is converted to a visual inspection tool where inspectors look at you and figure out whether you are a suspect. I have a vast experience in many technologies, including machine vision. It is my assessment that the entire process currently being done in this manner, can be done by artificially intelligent machine vision systems that are both cost effective and available. THEY would flag suspicious circumstances for human inspectors to then step in on. THAT would mitigate much of my resistance.
Millimeter wave radiation has never been shown to cause cancer. In animal studies, chronic exposure to it has in a few cases been linked to accelerated progression of existing cancers, but at the same rate as other stressers such as prolonged confinement. It has never been linked to causing cancer, unless you could people who got severe burns from accidental acute microwave overexposure. Current guidelines, in an abundance of precaution, suggest that young children and pregnant women get a pat down instead.
witchblade hardcore
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I agree with the post above and I will get more information from google.
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Millimeter wave radiation and radio frequency radiation in general is not inherently carcinogenic (unlike X-rays and ultraviolet radiation), but scientific studies show exposure to lower frequencies of microwaves have demonstrated an increased risk of cancer and faster rates of tumor progression. (Look up ‘millimeter wave scan’ on Wikipedia for the study cite.)
The scanners have been tested for only one thing: Whether the amount of radiation meets American National Standards Institute guidelines. However, there are no large scale studies of this type of technology used on such a large number of people. Nobody has studied, for example, pregnant women or people predisposed to the kind of cell mutation that leads to skin cancer.
Further, The New York Times found in September that the committee evaluating the scanners was comprised of the people who make them and representatives from the TSA. (The article, entitled “Are Scanners Worth the Risk”, is easily Googlable.)
The TSA compares millimeter wave scanners to cell phones. Wavelengths of cellphone transmissions are approximately 100x the size of these waves. This body scanner’s electromagnetic characteristics are closer to a microwave oven than a cell phone. Depending upon your body composition and clothing, you may literally be cooking yourself over time by going through these machines.