TSA begins removing X-ray scanners from some major airports

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has started removing X-ray body scanners from major airports. The decision is said to have been based purely on speeding up the check-in process and not because of safety concerns.

X-ray scanners have been a concern for travelers for quite some time. The scanners emit a small dose of ionizing radiation, which at higher levels has been linked to cancer. Passengers have also known to be uncomfortable with the fact that the scanners produced blurred pictures of passengers’ naked bodies. Each picture must be reviewed by a TSA officer, which slows down security lines.

The alternative to the X-ray scanner is the millimeter-wave scanner. These machines rely on low-energy radio waves. Instead of creating a picture, a computer algorithm looks for anomalies and depicts them as a yellow box on a cartoon figure. The millimeter-wave scanner is also highly effective at finding explosives.

One drawback to the millimeter-wave scanner is the high false-alarm rate. Studies in Europe and Australia have found the false-alarm rate to range between 23% and 54%, compared to the reported 5% false-alarm rate for the X-ray scanner. At any rate, the millimeter-wave scanners appear to be very effective and are more time efficient than the X-ray scanner. There are also no known DNA damaging or cancer causing mechanisms in these types of waves.

Although TSA has begun moving the X-ray scanners from major airports to smaller, less crowded airports, that does not mean they are being phased out completely. The X-ray scanners are still in place at a few major US airports. Furthermore, TSA has recently awarded three companies potential contracts for the next generation of body scanners. Of those three companies, one uses the X-ray technology in their scanner. Have we seen the beginning of the end of the dreaded X-ray scanners? Only time will tell.