For those still contemplating whether or not the radiation emitted from airport naked body scanners is serious enough to avoid, you may be interested to know that many doctors routinely "opt out" and choose the full-body pat down instead because they recognize the inherent dangers associated with any level of radiation exposure. A recent CNN piece explains that for many doctors, avoiding all sources of radiation whenever possible is just the smart thing to do.
So what do medical doctors who fly have to say about the machines? Well, according to CNN's Elizabeth Cohen who recently conducted her own small investigation, many are concerned about the radiation these scanners emit. In fact, Cohen quotes several doctors who express concern about the cumulative effects of repeated radiation exposure, even if such exposure is supposedly miniscule and below established thresholds for causing harm.
"I do whatever I can to avoid the scanner. This is a total body scan -- not a dental or chest X-ray," said Dr. Len Lichtenfield to Cohen in an email. "Total body radiation is not something I find very comforting based on my medical knowledge."
Another doctor explained that there is "no absolutely safe dose of radiation," and that "each exposure is additive." So even if the supposedly low radiation doses emitted from the naked body scanners are as low as TSA and the machines' manufacturers claim they are, habitual exposure will still cause bodily harm.
Even Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS) expressed concern about whether the safety of the machines, and whether or not TSA is properly maintaining and testing them for safety. After all, TSA refused to release safety reports for quite some time, and when they did, the bungled reports explained nothing more than TSA's high level of incompetence.
Back in December, radiation scientists admitted that naked body scanners are fully capable of causing both sperm mutations and cancer, despite insistence by authorities to the contrary.
I have written to you in the past about the dangers of CT Scans Causing Cancer -- here is a quick and real reminder:
A 2010 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, for instance, warns about the very serious public health threat posed by the overuse of CT scans. An earlier 2010 study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine found that CT scans cause roughly 29,000 cancers and 14,500 deaths every single year.
If you want to know if your food has been radiated before it makes it to the grocery store, you will need to look for a round pink seal with a flower in the middle. I wish I could attach a picture on here, but I am unable to for some reason. If you want to know what the symbol looks like, just shoot me an email from my website and I can send you a picture of the seal.
