Full Body Security X-Ray Scanner In Health Scare

In the fight against terrorism, controversey always seems to rage, but not usually in regard to syrvelyance and security tools at airports and railway stations.

The introduction at Heathrow Airport and London Rail terminals of a full-body x-ray scanner,has caused controversy not just on privacy and decency groudns but also on health grounds.

The Rapiscan 1000 full-body x-ray scanner penetrates to 1cm below skin level, direct through clothing and produces a naked image of the person being scanned, which can be stored on a computer system.
So detailed are the images, that it has been called a 'virtual strip search'.

They have been tested at Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport for the past 18 months, and now it has been found that five security guards operating them have had miscarriages, it was revealed by the T&GWU.

A warning on the scanner, suggests a passenger can safely pass through 5,000 times before being affected by radiation. But there is no formal guidance about the potential risk to staff who stand by the machines through their eight-hour shift.

The Transport and General Workers' Union has written letters to airport owner BAA about the security staff and wants the Health and Safety Executive to join talks with BAA over the issue.

BAA Heathrow said, "Long-haul passengers are exposed to a thousand times more radiation than guards working on the scanners for 2,000 hours. The unions have been involved with independent research over these new scanners. We have even commissioned radiographers at St Bart's Hospital in London to assess the safety of these machines. There is ongoing dialogue with the unions over this issue."

There is already controversy surrounding the scanners which check the body's normal radiation levels which are affected by objects strapped to it. When used with radar, it can detect weapons concealed deeper within the body. But it also clearly reveals passengers' intimate parts.

US authorities have refused to use the Californian-made machine until it is modified to mask passengers' modesty.

Back in the UK the Met Police have tested the scanner and Superintendent Malcolm Baker was recently quoted in the The Mirror as saying, " The X-rays in effect strip you naked - little is left to the imagination, It's very graphic."

Already the scanner is in use in the US and worldwide in airports, embassies, court buildings, prisons and government properties. While modesty was preserved during the police operation by the scanner - and its operators - being hidden away in a mobile unit, civil liberties advocates have raised concerns about an operator's code of conduct and any risks of passers-by having a look.

In the meantime,the website of the organisation, Action on Rights for Children claim that families across the UK have expressed horror at Metropolitan Police plans to make the scanning machines available for schools to carry out weapons searches on pupils.

"We have seen examples of scans so intrusive that they clearly reveal genitalia," says Ian Dowty, lawyer for Action on Rights for Children. "When children, and their parents and teachers, realise just how little these scans leave to the imagination, we are sure that there will be enormous opposition to this scheme. Who will carry out the scans or access the images?"

"Taking indecent images of children is a most serious offence. At a time when the public is rightly concerned about child pornography, we are appalled that the Metropolitan Police has even suggested such an irresponsible course of action.

"We share the widespread concern that weapons should be kept out of school, but this is not the answer. The use of such invasive technology is not only completely disproportionate: it will create its own problems.

"Children have a right to their dignity, particularly at an age when many are extremely sensitive about their bodies. To degrade a child in this way is tantamount to abuse. A simple metal detector would do the job at a fraction of the cost, and without humiliating children.

"It is an offence to make or possess indecent images of anyone under the age of 18.  If this scheme goes ahead, we will consider mounting a legal challenge."

The manufacturer Rapiscan Systems UK supplier is based in Surrey, had no one available for comment on the above issues, but their sales brochure states:

Source: Mirror, T&GWU, ARCH