Austrians question airport body scanners

         In Austria, scientists are questioning the legitimacy of the new full body scanners in airports. They want to know, is there a better, faster, way to the same job. Many people find the scanners to be embarrassing, thinking that these machines take some sort of clean nude photo of the occupant. Really though, it takes a vague picture searching for irregularities. There have been discussions about the fact that the machine emits low levels of radiation, and that any person who would be working near the machine for hours on end could be running a risk for accelerated cancer development. This fact has sparked an international discussion about weather or not Europe will adopt the machine that is already being implemented in most major airports in the U.S. and Canada. The Austria science team who raised these questions has begun plans to develop a new, better way to scan in airport security that will hopefully be safer, and easier. Personally, I hope they find what there looking for. Having been through the current scanners I can say that there odd, overly sensitive, and slow.

- M. Tilley