EU bans 'naked' airport security scanners over cancer fears

Controversial ‘naked’ body scanners, already in use at Manchester Airport, could be withdrawn after EU chiefs warned that they could pose a health risk due to the radiation they emit.
The £80,000 security scanners, introduced to detect suspicious items hidden on passengers, have already been criticised as an invasion of privacy due to the apparent ‘naked’ image that they produce of travellers.
But the new information from the European Commission raises fears that the radiation from the machines could cause long-term health damage such as cancer.

Going through: The scanners are used widely in the U.S. and at Manchester Airport in the UK, where the machines were trialled

The EC has halted all new trials of the machines while a safety report is compiled. A final decision about rolling out the scanners across Britain and the Continent will be made next year.



The decision comes after American academic Dr David Brenner warned last summer that he believed the scanner could deliver up to 20 times more radiation to the skin than previously thought - potentially increasing the risk of skin cancer.
However, other scientists disagree and the Health Protection Agency in England says the scanners are safe for travellers to go through as many as 5,000 times a year.
The scanners are widely used in America and at Manchester Airport in the UK, where the machines were trialled - 16 are now in use.

Risks? The Civil Aviation Authority said radiation received from scanning is equal to two minutes radiation received on a Transatlantic flight

The machines were also used at Heathrow, but scrapped amid complaints about invasion of privacy.
They have been tested in Germany, France, Italy, Finland and Holland but will be completely banned in April if experts rule they are dangerous.
Of the three million people that have passed through Manchester Airport since the scanner trial, only 14 people have refused to be subjected to a scan, despite ongoing negative publicity about privacy fears and health issues.
The scanner uses ionising radiation to penetrate beneath a user's clothing and skin and give a 'naked' outline image of their body.
However, strict rules mean that the member of security staff analysing the images must be in a separate room and unable to see the passenger, maintaining their anonymity.

Security scanners also must not store or copy any of the images, meaning they are deleted immediately after they are viewed.
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: ‘We will carry on using the body scanner because it is safe. 
‘The UK and American governments say it is safe - the EU is taking its time to make its mind up but there's nothing to suggest it won't come to the same conclusion as the UK and America.’
The scanners were introduced after 24-year-old Nigerian-born Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted in 2009 to blow up a plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit with plastic explosives he had hidden in his underwear.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport stood by the technology, saying: ‘The security of the travelling public is paramount and the government firmly believes the use of security scanners is both a legal and proportionate response to a very real terrorist threat.
‘Advice from the Health Protection Agency is that any health risks from backscatter scanners are minimal.
‘The machines involve a very low dose of x-rays equivalent to less than two minutes of flying at altitude.
‘We await the Commission's final decision on whether it will add backscatter type scanners to its approved technology list, which is expected in March 2012.’
The EU Commission's vice president Siim Kallas said: ‘These new rules ensure that where this new technology is used it will be covered by EU-wide standards on detection capability as well as strict safeguards to protect health and fundamental rights.’

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