Pilots don't like it either: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/20/pilot.refuses.body.scan/?iref=obinsite http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/11/pilots.body.scanning/index.html?iref=obinsite "If you think of the entire population of, shall we say a billion people per year going through these scanners, it's very likely that some number of those will develop cancer from the radiation from these scanners," Brenner said. Skin cancer would likely be the primary concern, he said. Each time the same person receives a backscatter scan, the small risk associated with the low dose of radiation is multiplied by the number of exposures. Brenner said the risk to an individual is "very small indeed" for a single scan. He said he is most concerned about frequent fliers, pilots and young people, because children are more sensitive to radiation. In April, four science and medical faculty members at the University of California, San Francisco, sent a letter to the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy expressing concerns about potentially serious health risks related to the X-ray scanners. In the letter they claimed there could be risks to various population segments, including children, senior citizens and women susceptible to breast cancer. The group also called for a clear screening policy for pregnant women once possible risks to the fetus are known. The group wants a review of existing data and recommendations for additional study by an independent panel of scientific experts. But there's really no case to be made for deploying any kind of body-scanning machine, Rez said. The probability of dying from radiation from a body scanner and that of being killed in a terror attack are roughly the same, he said. About one in 30 million. "They're both incredibly unlikely events. These are still a factor of 10 lower than the probability of dying in any one year from being struck by lightning in the United States."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/12/travel.screening/index.html?iref=obinsite "We have received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from travelers vowing to stop flying," Geoff Freeman, an executive vice president of the U.S. Travel Association, told Reuters. A 2008 survey found that air travelers "avoided" 41 million trips because they believed the air travel system was either "broken" or in need of "moderate correction," the U.S. Travel Association said. The decisions cost airlines $9.4 billion, the survey said. One online group, "National Opt Out Day" calls for a day of protest against the scanners on Wednesday, November 24, the busiest travel day of the year. Another group argues the TSA should remove the scanners from all airports. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a non-profit privacy advocacy group, is taking legal action, saying the TSA should be required to conduct a public rule-making to evaluate the privacy, security and health risks caused by the body scanners. The website "We Won't Fly" urgers travelers to "Act now. Travel with Dignity." "We are opposed to the full-body backscatter X-ray airport scanners on grounds of health and privacy. We do not consent to strip searches, virtual or otherwise. We do not wish to be guinea pigs for new, and possibly dangerous, technology. We are not criminals. We are your customers. We will not beg the government anymore. We will simply stop flying until the porno-scanners are history," the site says. "National Opt Out Day," organized by Brian Sodegren, encourages solidarity on November 24, amid the crush of Thanksgiving travelers. "It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an "enhanced pat-down" that touches people's breasts and genitals. You should never have to explain to your children, 'Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it's a government employee, then it's OK.' "
Yay. I'm flying out of LAX next Wednesday at 5pm, probably the busiest time, busiest hour of the entire year. FML.
Sadly the lead vest does nothing for you there. =\ The sun's radiation is mostly blocked by the ionosphere.
Since radiation tends to remain and accumulate, it becomes more dangerous with each additional exposure. A spoonful of dirt placed on top of your head is harmless. 10 million spoonfuls placed on top of your head would obviously cause your death. This is why your dentist eliminates 2 of the 3 sources of radiation by: a. working indoors out of direct sunlight and b. elevates you off the ground in the dental chair
The government of The United States of America is gay. For as long as I can remember I've had state-sponsored homosexual conduct pushed at me. I will never understand the basic idea in America that government forced/required (same-sex) viewing, showering and now groping, is accepted /tolerated as nothing odd, even when children are the victims. Beginning with 7th grade PE class, children are required to expose their naked bodies to PE coaches and classmates, many of whom have pedophilic or homosexual leanings, even though the same schools have been teaching them since kindegarten that no person has the right to see them naked or touch them and they should tell an adult so they can be arrested. Now the TSA is taking pornographic pictures of children (a direct violation of quite a few Federal and International child porn laws) and tax-paid homosexuals are sexually groping adults and children 8 hrs a day/40 hrs a week, and we're not only tolerating/accepting it, we're paying them to do it. I'm not attacking homosexuals here, I have no problem with them, but it's always seemed odd that the government standard is a pretense that they don't exist in government institutions. That government-sponsored same-gender nudity and contact is safe and innocent and hetero (the norm in nature) is perverse and deviate behavior. To pretend that anyone but a homosexual would even apply for a job that required him to grope members of the same gender all day, every day defies logic. And I seriously do not believe any heterosexual male would. So, when that TSA guy with the funky after-shave gives you that extra little tug, just realize he'll be reliving the moment the 2 of you shared later on while rubbing one out in the shower. Unless he's a pedophile who's just there for the kids.
taking nude pictures of children (in this context) is not "pornographic" pictures. Not saying I'm in favor of it, but nude children does not = porn. Shouldn't be done, but it's not "porn".
My parents have all kinds of naked pictures of me when I was young in scrapbooks and stuff. I most my life from when I was born to the age of 5 I was running around nekkid. I think my parents were stoned half the time anyways lol.
