Didn’t the original full body scanners used at airports use backscatter X-rays, which are ionizing radiation ?
I believe these were mostly replaced by millimeter-wave scanners, and are not used anymore (even banned in some countries) but a lot of the initial pushback and debate surrounding the scanners when they were first introduced was about potential health risks of repeated X-ray exposure from those scanners, and so the idea of ionizing radiation exposure persists to this day in many people’s minds.
That’s true but the dose is incredibly low, about 0.03–0.1 μSv per scan. This is the equivalent to a couple minutes of background exposure or eating a banana. A flight new york to LA is 40μSv.
Former DHS security systems designers here.
If you want to complain about body scanners, complain about the security theater, lack of privacy, or back-scratching of security industry lobbyists.
Complaining about non-ionizing radiation is RFK-level conspiracy bullshit.
Didn’t the original full body scanners used at airports use backscatter X-rays, which are ionizing radiation ?
I believe these were mostly replaced by millimeter-wave scanners, and are not used anymore (even banned in some countries) but a lot of the initial pushback and debate surrounding the scanners when they were first introduced was about potential health risks of repeated X-ray exposure from those scanners, and so the idea of ionizing radiation exposure persists to this day in many people’s minds.
That’s true but the dose is incredibly low, about 0.03–0.1 μSv per scan. This is the equivalent to a couple minutes of background exposure or eating a banana. A flight new york to LA is 40μSv.