| > The radiation exposure with Backscatter X-Ray's is really a non-issue. Unfortunately that's not the case. "David Brenner, the head of Columbia University’s Centre for Radiological Research, says the concentration on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the body – means the radiation dose is actually 20 times higher than the official estimate." The two issues are that 1) the energy is absorbed by the surface of the body instead of throughout the volume, so the effective dose to affected tissues is much higher, and 2) that the dose is received in seconds, instead of over a period of hours. For a frequent traveler flying about once a week, ~100 departures per year, if scanned every time that adds a non-trivial 10-20 mrem. And that's assuming that the cited dose is correct and not a significant under-estimate; where's the independent testing? Here's a long post with numerous references regarding this general topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1854787 |