Airport body scanners: questions and answers
Demonstrating the new full-body scanner at Sea-Tac Airport in Washington. Credit: MCT/Mike Siegel
The Transportation Security Administration's plan to install new full-body scanners at U.S. airport security checkpoints is raising lots of questions about privacy and health issues.
Add to those the potential for hassles and confusion, especially during the holidays, when record numbers of families will be flying.
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions.
What are the health risks?
The TSA says the radiation exposure is equal to what passengers get in a plane for two minutes at 30,000 feet. However, scientists, including a group of researchers at the University of California in San Francisco, have questioned the safety guidelines.
Those guidelines were established by the American National Standards Institute, whose members include companies that make the machines and the government agencies promoting them.
"While the dose would be safe if it were distributed throughout the volume of the entire body, the dose to the skin may be dangerously high," the scientists wrote. "The risk of radiation emission to children and adolescents does not appear to have been fully evaluated," they said.
What about privacy?
TSA says its scanners don't store or save images, and emphasize that the screeners looking at the images never see passengers in person. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., equates the technology to a "digital strip search," and has filed a suit to block its use.
Do I have to submit to a full-body scan when I fly?
No. For now, it's voluntary. Agents may steer travelers toward a scanner but, generally, "You'll be able to . . . choose the lane you want to go through," says TSA's Dwayne Baird. If an agent insists you join a line with a scanner, you can refuse, but you'll get a physical pat-down.
Right now, I have to take off my shoes and anything that might set off a metal detector. Will that change?
Yes. If you go through a scanner, TSA asks that you take everything out of your pockets, including wallets, and remove chunky jewelry.
I don't want to be separated from my wallet while I'm inside a scanner. What now?
Put valuables in your carry-on rather than in the plastic bins. Lock it for extra security.
