Airport Body Scanners - What would you do?

[Monster Dave]

Recently we've had to travel a good bit and we came face to face with the infamous body scanner at the airport. Though there are mixed feelings about both privacy and radiation exposure, I was personally very adamant about going through it. Fortunately, each time we flew, we managed to avoid it by being in the right place and in the right line. If it had come down to it, I would have opted for the pat-down rather than go through the body scanner - but neither of us was flagged for one on any of our recent trips

The whole experience just got me wondering what most people would prefer given all the hoop-la about them.

Case in point: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/tsa-radiation-test-bungling/

[zarn02]

I'll take that pat-down. It's no more degrading, and I can avoid some radiation in my life.

I've been picked for the whole extra-special-searching before and I'll be flying in a couple weeks, so we'll get to see if I have the chance.

[Kopfjager]

To through it

[Statler]

wait... so hard to tell in that horribly written article, but the bungled tests showed ten times more radiation than what the machines actually are because they didn't DIVIDE by ten?  Not that the machines are ten times worse than what tests showed...

I fly like 4 times a year... just do whatever gets me through faster and lets me deal with fewer idiots.

[avizpls]

Xray, I'll go pat down.

mmWave, I'll go thru. I personally promise they are safe

[Triple J]

I just go wherever directed. I only fly 5-6 times per year though. I've went through it once since they've been introduced.

[ducatiz]

Do the pat down.

From now on, I will go to the airport with a 16" squash or cucumber in my shorts, something absurd.

[Monster Dave]

And wear this shirt:






For me personally, it's the unnecessarily addition and ultimately cumulative dosage of radiation that you get. I know we get low doses of radiation from all sorts of things daily, and I'm all for airline safety, but this just seems a bit too much risk for passengers.

I'll be curious to see if cancer increases over the next 10 years.

[lethe]

Just wear a set of pants and some underwear you don't care about and proceed to piss yourself as they pat you down. 
That'll learn them.

[ducatiz]

Just wear a set of pants and some underwear you don't care about and proceed to piss yourself as they pat you down. 
That'll learn them.

and eat a pound of asparagus before

[pennyrobber]

Go through it and stand proud. 

[Randimus Maximus]

In that article, there was a link to the TSA's website on their testing procedures.

What I find amusing, assuming the TSA's number are correct, is that you're going to be subjected to WAY more radiation on the flight than going through the body scan device.

    * One year of naturally occurring background radiation: 300 millirem
    * Annual recommended limit to the public of radiation from man-made sources: 100 millirem
    * Chest X-ray: 10 millirem
    * Flight from New York to Los Angeles: 4 millirem
    * One day of natural background: approximately 1 millirem
    * Drinking three glasses of water a day for a year: 0.045 millirem
    * One backscatter X-ray screening: approximately 0.005 millirem

http://www.tsa.gov/research/reading/xray_screening_technology_safety_reports.shtm

FTR...I fly a lot.  I go whichever path they tell me.

[ducatiz]

In that article, there was a link to the TSA's website on their testing procedures.

What I find amusing, assuming the TSA's number are correct, is that you're going to be subjected to WAY more radiation on the flight than going through the body scan device.

    * One year of naturally occurring background radiation: 300 millirem
    * Annual recommended limit to the public of radiation from man-made sources: 100 millirem
    * Chest X-ray: 10 millirem
    * Flight from New York to Los Angeles: 4 millirem
    * One day of natural background: approximately 1 millirem
    * Drinking three glasses of water a day for a year: 0.045 millirem
    * One backscatter X-ray screening: approximately 0.005 millirem

http://www.tsa.gov/research/reading/xray_screening_technology_safety_reports.shtm

FTR...I fly a lot.  I go whichever path they tell me.

that's assuming the scanner machine works properly and is configured properly.  apparently, they've been fudging their inspections on them.

moreover, you can't avoid the radiation in the plane.  you CAN avoid the radiation from the scanner (by refusing it)

[Randimus Maximus]

that's assuming the scanner machine works properly and is configured properly.  apparently, they've been fudging their inspections on them.

moreover, you can't avoid the radiation in the plane.  you CAN avoid the radiation from the scanner (by refusing it)

Yes, I'm assuming the assumptions are correct.  You may have noticed that in my post.

But the point is that you'd need to go through the scanner 800 times to equal the exposure of 1 cross country flight.

Again, assuming that everything is accurate as stated.

[Monster Dave]

Even so, why voluntarily add extra radiation to yourself if you can avoid it??





...you never know...