Backscatter Scanners

The Department of Homeland Security, after being criticized by the general public and politicians, is launching a complete safety study of the scanners that are used to screen passengers at airports all across the nation. The review of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is performed by the National Academy of Science, a nonprofit group of scientists, to study the safety of the radiation emitted by scanners. Susan Collins, a senator from Maine, says that while the amount of radiation that passengers are exposed to is small when going through the scanners once, it is concerning what that means for frequent flyers, who may be exposed several times a week. Currently TSA uses two types of full-body scanners used to look for hidden objects underneath passenger’s clothing. These two types of scanners are: Non-ionizing radio frequency energy scanners - These are your typical security scanners seen at arenas and airports for decades. Backscatters - Backscatter [...]