Comment on TSA now offers you a choice
Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 2 days ago
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.
ylph@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
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.
saigot@lemmy.ca 12 hours ago
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.