Airport-Scanner Radiation Safe for Travelers
TSA’s mission is to keep the traveling public safe and that is done by deploying multiple layers of security, including the best available technology, to detect and disrupt possible attacks before they occur.
Over the nine years since the agency’s inception, TSA has implemented stringent safety protocols to ensure that technology used at airports to screen people and property is safe for all passengers, as well as the TSA workforce.
In addition to regular maintenance, each individual machine that uses X-ray technology is regularly tested to ensure the radiation emitted falls within the national safety standards. The latest reports confirm that every backscatter unit currently used for passenger screening in U.S. airports is operating well within applicable national safety standards.
The machines have been deployed at dozens of airports to thwart militant attacks on the U.S. aviation system but they have provoked health concerns about excessive radiation exposure. There are about 486 full-body scanners in 78 airports in the United States, of which 247 are so-called backscatter machines made by Rapiscan Systems, a unit of OSI Systems Inc. According to TSA, these backscatter machines cannot produce more than 0.005 millirem per scan.
In comparison, a chest X-ray will expose someone to 10 millirem of radiation and the maximum recommended exposure to radiation from man-made sources is 100 millirem per year.
By the Numbers
Here is a comparison of the radiation dose from the Health Physics Society and other safety experts.
•   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 milliremÂ
Source: TSA.gov
