ACR touts safety of using whole-body scanners in U.S. airports

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is looking to deploy whole-body scanners, which produce anatomically correct body images and can detect objects and substances concealed by clothing, at security checkpoints in U.S. airports.  The American College of Radiology (ACR) has confirmed the safety of the scanners the TSA seeks to deploy.

The TSA is currently planning to utilize two types of scanning systems:

• Millimeter wave technology uses low-level radio waves in the millimeter wave spectrum. Two rotating antennae cover the passenger from head to toe with low-level radiofrequency energy.
• Backscatter technology uses “extremely weak x-rays” delivering less than 10 microRem of radiation per scan--the radiation equivalent one receives inside an aircraft flying for two minutes at 30,000 feet, according to the ACR.

The college said it is “not aware of any evidence that either of the scanning technologies that the TSA is considering would present significant biological effects for passengers screened.”

An airline passenger flying cross-country is exposed to more radiation from the flight than from screening by one of these devices, according to the ACR.

The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement (NCRP) has reported that a traveler would need to experience 2,500 backscatter scans per year to reach what they classify as a Negligible Individual Dose. The ACR concurred with this conclusion.