Thaindian News

Sacramento, Mar 29 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Scientists from the University of California has given the all clear as far as safety of the full body scanners is concerned. Passengers have been worried that walking through the body scanners could cause health problems due to the risk of radiation exposure.

That is not what the researchers found. According to the researchers, a passenger would have to pass through the scanner about 50 times to get the same level of exposure as a single dental x-ray. That is considered very minute because it means a person would need to pass through the scanner at least 200,000 times before the person would get the same level of exposure as a single abdominal CT scan.

The researchers after the study wrote that, “The radiation doses emitted by the scans are extremely small; the scans deliver an amount of radiation equivalent to 3 to 9 minutes of the radiation received through normal daily living. And since flying itself increases exposure to ionizing radiation, the scan will contribute less than one percent of the dose a flyer will receive from exposure to cosmic rays at elevated altitudes.”

The Transportation Security Administration has always maintained that the full body scanners are safe for travelers. Latest threats from terrorists got the TSA to review airport security measures. The new measures though have been described as controversial. A passenger has the option to either go through the scanner or submit for the “enhanced pat-down.”