More calls for rethink on body scanners
- Latest News
- Friday, 16 July 2010
Frequent fliers say they're time-consuming and invade fliers' privacy and airlines say they shouldn't be used for primary security screening.
Questions also have been raised about the machines' cancer risk.
The scanners also are the focus of complaints and questions globally, including:
* The International Air Transport Association has said that in the USA, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lacks "a strategy and a vision" of how the machines fit into a comprehensive checkpoint security plan. "The TSA is putting the cart before the horse," IATA spokesman Steve Lott said.
* Security officials in Dubai won't use the machines because they violate "personal privacy," and information about their "side effects" on health isn't known.
* The European Commission has said "a rigorous scientific assessment" of potential health risks is needed before machines are deployed there. It also said screening methods other than the new machines should be used on pregnant women, babies, children and people with disabilities.
