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Home » full body scanners » EU Bans Full Body Scanners While USA Embraces Them
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EU Bans Full Body Scanners While USA Embraces Them

Matthew November 18, 2011 3 Comments

The European Union banned a variant of full body scanners (used extensively in the U.S. by the Transportation Security Administration) this week at the airports of all 27 member states,  “[I]n order not to risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety.”

The TSA responded to the news with a non-sequitur:

Since January 2010, advanced imaging technology has detected more than 300 dangerous or illegal items on passengers in U.S. airports nationwide.

Of course the TSA failed to mention that most of those 300 “dangerous or illegal items” were drugs like marijuana, not any credible threats to aviation security and that when it comes down to it, busting people for drugs is well beyond their job descrption.

In justifying their decision to ban X-ray type full body scanners, the EU simply pointed out the unnecessary risk walking through scanners entail:

While the level of radiation is extremely low, some studies have found that over time a small number of cancer cases could result from scanning millions of people a year.

Yes, I will be the first to say you receive more radiation during an airline flight than when walking through a full body scanner, but that does not mean we should expose people unnecessarily to any more radiation.

Oddly, there has been a carve out in the ruling for Manchester, England:

Manchester airport, which has 16 of the £80,000 machines and bars anyone refusing a scan from boarding a flight, has been told it can continue using them for another year.

If they are unsafe and ineffective, why continue to allow them in Manchester? I suspect the huge price tag of the machines had something to do it with, but certainly a human life is worth more than £80,000.

As troubling as that exception is, at least the EU is moving the right direction on this issue. Now if only the TSA could be so rational…

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About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120 countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying international relations, American government, and later obtaining a law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House. His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles. Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the direction and coordination of company travel.

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3 Comments

  1. Damian Reply
    November 19, 2011 at 7:36 am

    Matthew, I just got my balls zapped in Manchester by one of these things. They have a mostly automated system here, were you go in to a standard metal detector, after you walk up to 2 glass sliding doors.. If you set off the metal detector you are sent into the Full Body Scanner, if you did not set of the metal detector door number 2 opens leading right to the bag pick up. There is no human there to even opt out if you wanted.. you are stuck in a glass box. This was in Term 2.. also had this in Term 3 at MAN..

  2. Marcus Reply
    November 20, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    Any theories on the divergent approaches here? Why does the USA keep them but the EU gets rid of them?

  3. jonny Reply
    November 27, 2011 at 12:43 am

    The eu tends to listen to people better than the us government does. I am glad the eu has said no. More countries need to tell the us to back off

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