“They have met and have voted and sworn. You will make Scanners unnecessary, they say. You will bring the Ancient Wars back to the world, if Scanning is lost and the Scanners live in vain!”
Cordwainer Smith
Amelia’s manners were such when she and George visited Crawley and his wife at these quarters, that they had very nearly come to their first quarrel; that is, George scolded his wife violently for her evident unwillingness to go, and the high and mighty manner in which she comported herself towards Mrs. Crawley, her old friend; and Amelia did not say one single word in reply; but with her husband’s eye upon her, and Rebecca scanning her as she felt, was, if possible, more bashful and awkward on the second visit which she paid to Mrs. Rawdon, than on her first call.
William Thackeray
Since that underwear thing happened, it’s just scanners, scanners, scanners, you know? While some fear the virtual contours of their body being mocked or wanked over by the Man, others don’t. Whatevs. Those opposed to the scanners can at least all agree the dang things are ineffective and expensive – another ho-hum terror-driven racket – but we still don’t know how dangerous they are. Ionizing X-radiation aside,
The National Council on Radiation Protection & Measurements, which vouched for the ACR’s position on the backscatter radiation scanners, hasn’t reached a conclusion on the millimeter-wave technology, its president, Thomas Tenforde, Ph.D., told Diagnostic Imaging. The NCRP, which operates under a Congressional charter, would like to take a look at the new technology, but hasn’t had the opportunity so far.
Millimeter-wave scanners are probably within bounds, Tenforde said, but there should be an effort to verify that they are safe for frequent use. According to Tenforde, standards have been established for RF exposures up to 300 gigahertz, but millimeter-wave technology may operate outside those established standards, and potential bioeffects need to be evaluated.
Also, one study by a group at Los Alamos National Labs argues that terahertz radiation, which, although in the RF spectrum, is much higher than the 300 GHz level, does have bioeffects. The study also cites other papers finding bioeffects from exposure to the THz spectrum. The Los Alamos researchers say that while the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects could allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. The study describes a model for assessing the bioeffects of THz radiation and is drawing attention from critics of the whole-body scanners.
“Whole-body airport scanners are basically safe – or are they?” by John C. Hayes, Diagnostic Imaging 1-8-10
Course, you can always opt for an old-school Preston Nichols-style hand scan if you like your DNA just fine the way it is, thanks. I do recommend submitting to the mind-scan, however – it might be completely idiotic, but it’s still preferable to the alternative.
Have fun and cuídate.
UPDATE 2-5-10
Pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, even though the radiation dose from body scanners is “extremely small,” said the Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety report, which is restricted to the agencies concerned and not meant for public circulation. The group includes the European Commission, International Atomic Energy Agency, Nuclear Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.
“Airport Body Scanning Raises Radiation Exposure, Committee Says” by Jonathan Tirone, Bloomberg 2-5-10
Tags: airport scanners, airport security, electromagnetic warfare, full-body scanners, Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety, obnoxiousness, privacy, ridiculousness, terahertz radiation, terrorism, X-rays