Study finds low cancer risk from airport scanners
March 29th, 2011 - 3:23 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 29 (ANI): Researchers have suggested that the cancer risk associated with one type of airport security scanners is low based on the amount of radiation these devices emit, as long as they are operated and function correctly.
“The doses are low - extremely low,” said Rebecca Smith-Bindman, a professor of radiology at University of California - San Francisco, who made the calculations with Pratik Mehta, an undergraduate at University of California - Berkeley. “The amount of radiation in these scans is so low that you don’t have to be concerned about it.”
The amount of radiation absorbed in a single scan, they say, is about the same as what the average person absorbs every three to nine minutes on the ground - just from being alive. (The human body naturally absorbs radiation all the time from such sources as the sun and the earth). In their analysis, Smith-Bindman and Mehta also determined that the average person would absorb 100 times more radiation flying on an airplane than standing in a scanner.
At the same time, Smith-Bindman cautions that the analysis is based on the assumption that the backscatter devices work perfectly and are used as designed.
The analysis appears in a special article published online in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. (ANI)
- CT scans 'increase cancer risk' - Jan 04, 2010
- How safe are airport security scanners to humans: US study - Mar 17, 2011
- Scientists say that airport body scanners are not hazardous for health - Mar 30, 2011
- Full body scanners as likely to kill you as a terror bomb - Nov 19, 2010
- Biggest Radiation threat is due to medical scans - Jun 15, 2010
- Head patch can monitor strokes better - Feb 02, 2012
- Harnessing electromagnetic waves for medical scanning - Jan 22, 2012
- Airport body scanners 'could cause cancer' - Jun 30, 2010
- Now, a CT scanner that reduces cancer risk - Aug 08, 2011
- Airport body scanners banned by EU over cancer fears - Nov 17, 2011
- Full-body airport scanners 'just as likely to kill you as a terrorist's bomb' - Nov 19, 2010
- Scanner to detect fake documents - Oct 03, 2011
- Department of Homeland Security to provide advanced imaging technology to 28 airports - Jul 20, 2010
- Naked body scanners in British airports? - May 04, 2012
- New cardiac CT technology cuts patient radiation exposure drastically - Feb 23, 2010
Tags: airplane, airport security, amount of radiation, archives of internal medicine, assumption, average person, california san francisco, cancer risk, human body, journal archives, mehta, pratik, radiology, rebecca smith, scanner, security scanners, time smith, university of california, university of california berkeley, university of california san francisco