Airport X-ray Machines Are Still A Health Hazard!

X-ray airport scanners.
You know those "backscatter" full-body X-ray machines at airport security gates? Europe banned them several months ago because of health concerns, but the machines are still in use in some airports in the States. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says the amount of radiation emitted by each scan is minuscule, but independent research suggests the dose to some parts of the body is at least 45 times higher than the TSA claims and may even increase cancer risk, particularly for the elderly and women predisposed to breast cancer. Since you're already going to be exposed to radiation by flying, avoid the extra rays and ask for a pat-down, says John Sedat, Ph.D., a professor emeritus at the University of California, San Francisco.

Who said going through airport security couldn't be pleasurable?

New procedure for patdowns coming

According to this USA Today article, it looks as though we can expect a new procedure for the patdowns that we're currently doing. They're currently testing a seemingly more invasive type of patdown at Boston Logan and Las Vegas McCarran airports. We suppose this was inevitable. Yet, this is so typical of a government bureaucracy like this. They take years and years to change something that should have been changed years ago.

Of course, what this really means for the work force is just more work and more annoyed passengers. Security First, always remember that. Now if we could just get Covenant Aviation Security to stop forcing us to do additional procedures that are not required by the SOP.