Cancer risk, in the EU Avoid Airport X-ray Passengers

Cancer risk, in the EU Avoid Airport X-ray Passengers

The European Union (EU) announced a policy that prohibits the use of X-ray body scanners for all the airports in Europe so as not to endanger the health and safety of passengers. The plan of this policy will be carried out in recent weeks and instead use millimeter wave scanner.

Research has shown that the X-ray scanner produces low levels of radiation that can increase cancer risk.

But unlike the European Union, the United States will continue to use X-ray scanner According to the agency in charge of transport security there, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the use of X-ray scanners are to meet safety standards.

"Since January 2010, this advanced technology scanner has detected more than 300 dangerous objects or illegal in the U.S. national passenger airport," said TSA spokesman, Mike McCarthy, as quoted by LiveScience, Thursday (17/11/2011).

The U.S. side claimed some or most of the detections in America are actually more frequent use of millimeter wave scanner rather than X-rays at U.S. airports.

Machines this advanced imaging (millimeter wave scanner) first used, relatively safe and use radaiasi 'nonionisasi', which is kind of low energy that does not cause genetic mutations. Unlike X-ray radiation that damages DNA.

According to the new decision, the 27 EU member states will only use millimeter wave scanner. While currently, there are about 250 pieces of X-ray scanner that is used in American airports along with 264 millimeter wave scanner.

"It's important to have both of these technologies in order to create competition that makes the price go down and will lead to better imaging technology," said Robin Kane, assistant administrator of TSA security technology.

TSA believes that the amount of ionizing radiation used in X-ray scanner is very low. Several scientific studies concluded that only a small number of cancer cases are caused by the tool, which is about 6 to 100 cases of scanning hundreds of millions of passengers per year.

This means that for each year using X-ray scanner, between 6 to 100 people who eventually develop cancer while others do not. Even in the next three years, TSA plans to install X-ray or millimeter wave scanner at almost every airport security checkpoint.