TSA Airport Scanner Tests Show More Radiation than Expected

Skin cancer, anyone? The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest all 247 full-body X-ray scanners at the nation's airports after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected, USA Today reports.

TSA insists the ionizing radiation devices are safe and the test results reflect "math errors" made by the inspectors, which actually doesn't inspire much confidence.  About a third off the tests show some kind of error.

Health professionals have expressed concern about over-radiation caused by miscalibrated scanners. No official government agency is responsible for the safety of the devices, so  it is left to the TSA to certify its own machines -- and much of the testing is performed by the manufacturer of the machines, Rapiscan.

Rapiscan said their employees made so many math mistakes on the machine inspection tests because they "were confused by inspection forms and instructions."

Be very careful.


See USA Today for the full story.

 Photo from dontscan.us/John Wild/johnwild.info

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