Flying and Radiation Exposure

http://counterpunch.com/alvarez03242010.html


Whole-Body Scanners Will Compound the Risk


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The effort is being led by former Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff, now a paid consultant for a manufacturer of these x-ray machines. He's calling for their "large-scale deployment." Estimated to cost $3 billion over the next eight years, the Homeland Security department plans to have 1,800 scanners in place at U.S. airports by 2014.

(note: " now a paid consultant for a manufacturer of these x-ray machines")

In a Washington Post op-ed on New Year's Day, Chertoff dismissed objections raised about these devices. "The 'safety' concern'" he claimed "is particularly specious, because the technologies expose people to no more radiation than is experienced in daily life."

Not quite. Whole body x-ray scanning machines were developed and first used to detect theft at gold and diamond mines on and inside the bodies of workers in Africa. They are fluoroscopic x-ray machines that provide a real time image of a person's body using "back-scatter" or "soft" X-rays. They emit much less penetrating energy than machines found in a medical setting, such as CAT scanners.

However, like all machines, if their design, manufacture, calibration, maintenance are defective, then doses to passengers and security staff could be larger than claimed. The recent reporting of dozens of cases of harm to patients from the misuse of CAT scans should serve as a cautionary warning.

Unfortunately, the doses of radiation experienced in every-day life, especially flying long-distances in jet aircraft, pose risks we should also carefully heed.

The earth's atmosphere is a massive shield protecting life on earth from cosmic radiation. At sea level, this atmospheric radiation shield is roughly equivalent to a wall of water about 33 feet thick. With the rise in altitude, atmospheric shielding decreases and radiation doses increase. At 30,000 feet above sea level, radiation doses increase by 90 times. Solar flares can increase doses by a factor of 100 above that. For this reason, flight crews, are considered by the United Nation's Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation as radiation workers who, because of exposure to cosmic radiation, are the most highly exposed group in the world.

According to UN data, in 2000, air crews made up about 3% of the radiation workers in the world, but received about 24% of the total collective dose for all exposed workers, which include people employed at uranium mines, nuclear weapons sites, and nuclear power plants. The average estimated annual dose to flight personnel, and frequent international flyers such as professional couriers, is about 2.5 times higher than the combined average for all radiation workers.

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Women who are pregnant have a heightened risk of cancer to their embryos. During the early part of the first trimester, when radiation sensitivity is the highest, some women may not know they are pregnant. This is why European airlines ground pregnant aircrew to prevent overexposure.
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stars are mine

radiation ACCUMULATES!

and they will malfunction and dose passengers and TSA workers with extra radiation.

and the next time you go through it will add to your prior doses.