The government is seeking to reassure the public that the full-body scanners being availed at airports for security checks are safe, despite their use of radiation to examine one for bombs or weapons past their clothing.

The Transport security Administration said that the radiation exposed during one scan was equivalent to that which a person flying for three minutes at 30,000 feet would be exposed to. It went on to state that that amount was significantly lower than what one is exposed to during a single dental X-Ray.

Officials from the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter addressed to the White House Science advisor, John Holdren that they were confident full body X-ray security products and practices did not pose any risk to the public health.

This is being corroborated by an independent group of experts who say as long as radiation limits are set to the low required for scanning; the machines pose no health risk to users. However, scientists are voicing dissent to these assurances.

One of them is Peter Rez, a physics professor at the Arizona State University who expressed concern over the eventuality of a machine malfunctioning and thus emitting toxic amounts of radiation. He also went on to say that, there is a higher risk of machine failure than in a medical environment since medically untrained TSA officials are operating them.

Passengers are also expressing concern at the risk of exposure to too much radiation with most pilots opting out of the full-body scan.
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