Fifty-two state-of-the-art scanners are currently screening passengers at 23 U.S. airports. By the end of 2011, there will be 1,000 machines and two out of every three passengers will be asked to step into one of the new machines for a six-second head-to-toe scan before boarding. About half of these machines will be X-ray back-scatter scanners. They use low-energy X-rays to peer beneath passengers' clothing.
Ionizing radiation such as the X-rays used in these scanners have the potential to induce chromosome damage, and that can lead to cancer. The stated dose, about .02 microsieverts, a medical unit of radiation, is averaged over the whole body. But if the dose is calculated as what is incident at the skin, the number would be higher, though how much higher is unclear.
Recent research indicates that about 5 percent of the population is especially sensitive to radiation. These people have gene mutations that render them less able to repair X-ray damage to their DNA. Two examples are the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 mutations associated with breast and ovarian cancer, but many more such defects are likely. Children are also more vulnerable to radiation damage, because they have more dividing cells at any time. A radiation-induced mutation in their cells can lead to cancer decades later. The most likely risk from the airport scanners is a common type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, which is usually curable and frequently occurs on the head and neck
The simple solution is to use millimeter-wave scanners that, as far as we know today, don't have any associated radiation risks. Millimeter-wave scanners are a different kind of machine that produce images using radio waves, not X-rays. The images are comparable in quality to the X-ray scanners. The cost is comparable to the X-ray scanners.
About the Author:Dr. Maguire has spent over 20 years in research and development as a professor of neuroscience and ophthalmology at the UCSD School of Medicine where he was awarded an NIH Fogarty Fellowship and ran an NIH- and NSF-grant supported research laboratory. Dr. Maguire holds numerous patents for drugs and devices, has over 100 publications in the areas of neuroscience, ophthalmology, cancer, and pharmaceuticals, is a founder and director of two biotechnology companies and two non-profit life science organizations, and has led the implementation of several large BD contracts between biotech and big pharma companies. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of several health care companies and routinely lectures around the world on health care and pharmaceutical related issues. He is Co-Founder and CEO of BioRegenerative Sciences, Inc., and is also President of the San Diego Neuroscience Group at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. http://www.scripps.edu/services/sdneuro/ Dr. Maguire's blog, "Health, Stem Cells & Technology" can be viewed at: http://healthstemcellstechnology.blogspot.com/ Email:gmaguire@bioregenerativesciences.com
