X-Ray+Teacher+Assigned+Review

="Backscatter Screening Bad"=

In this letter to the editor, Dr. Leon Kaufman accuses the TSA of using X-rays that are not safe for widespead public use. The American Transport Safety Administration (TSA) uses X-rays as part of their security checks at American airports. Dr. Kaufman states that the TSA is irradiating millions of people of all ages (including the fetuses of pregnant women); and the results won't be seen for another 20 years. The National Academy of Sciences has said that even very low doses of radiation pose a risk for cancer – there is no threshold where a level of exposure below will have a neglible effect. The TSA claims that the radiation emitted by the X-ray machines they use is equivalent to sunshine. However, Kaufman points out that radiation in sunlight can be stopped by a sheet of paper. Government documents show though, that the peak energy of these X-ray machines is in the 120-KeV (kiloelectron volts) – which is the highest energy used by CAT scans to penetrate the thickest of bodies. Even at half the peak energy, only 0.3% of the radiation is absorbed in the first millimetre of organic matter and 27% of the energy remains even after penetrating 10 centimetres of tissue.

This is a worrying reality, the fact that people are being exposed to dangerous radiation whenever they utilize air travel in the United States and for the workers that operate these devices or are in the vicinity. It will still be some time before the full effects are known but that is a cause for concern; what if there is a sudden rash of deformed children 20 somewhat years in the future? The best thing that could be done at this point in time is to be proactive and take the X-ray machines out of commission in favour of other methods - such as: metal detectors and body searches done by security officials. The risk appears to be too great to just be ignored until potentially damaging results occur, the TSA must take action soon.

[|Aviation Week and Space Techonology: October 17th]