The Safety of Airport Security Scanners - Assignment Example

In an article published in the PHYS.ORG on March 16, 2011 entitled “New articles examine safety of airport security scanners” the news report examined previous discourses written by David J. Brenner, Ph.D., D.Sc., director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, and that written by David A. Schauer, Sc.D., C.H.P., executive director of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), regarding the safety of airport security scanners.

This article proffered the most balanced information on given that arguments on the potential radiation-induced cancer risks have been appropriately discussed using Brenner and Schauer’s contentions. In this regard, the mentioned news articles written by both Brenner and Schauer were aptly summarized with relevant issues emphasized to shed light on the subject.According to the article, there are currently two types of scanners used in airports to screen various travelers. The first type is the scanner that “employs millimeter wave technology, which delivers no ionizing radiation” [Rad11].

The other type is the scanner that “uses backscatter X-rays that expose the individual being screened to very low levels of ionizing radiation” [Rad11]. To determine the effect of low levels of ionizing radiation, one decided to confirm other studies on the subject and the article published in the ScienceDaily (2005) on low levels of ionizing radiation indicate that a report from the National Academies' National Research Council have indicated that “the committee's thorough review of available biological and biophysical data supports a "linear, no-threshold" (LNT) risk model, which says that the smallest dose of low-level ionizing radiation has the potential to cause an increase in health risks to humans” [Sci05].

This article confirmed the risks involved in low levels of ionizing radiation, however, since it was published in 2005, the reliability and applicability could be diminished.