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A recent New York Times (NYT) Article reported that there are more concerns concerning airport screening process using back-scatter x ray radiation.  In the Post 9-11 era where the airport remains the only US institution where our civil liberties and constitutional rights are routinely suspended in the name of public safety and combating international terrorism, the use of have not back-scatter x ray scanners has seen its share of controversy.

A scientific study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that the radiation doses produced by these security-screening devises are too small to pose any significant health risk, even to frequent flyers, but the authors of that analysis also made it clear that they based their calculations on the assumption that the machines would operate as designed. Human error or machine malfunctions, they stressed, could alter the radiation doses - and the health risk. Yet, the researchers had no way of evaluating if such errors and malfunctions were occurring because the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does not permit independent access to the machines.

One radiation expert is quoted by the NYT Article as saying the effective dose could be 45 times higher than the TSA estimates - or about the same as 10 percent of a single chest X-ray.

Another expert tells NYT that "he worries about mechanical malfunctions that could cause the beam to stop in one place for even a few seconds, resulting in greater radiation exposure."

ProPublica and PBS Newshour explained last fall, airport scanners are regulated differently - and less stringently - than X-ray machines used in hospitals and clinics. In fact, annual safety inspections of airport scanners are conducted primarily by the manufacturer of the machines, not by independent inspectors.

It is of note that the European Union has banned all body scanners which use radiation and it is against the law in several countries to x ray anyone without their consent and a medical reason.  Airports in Europe are able to ensure public safety, prevent terrorism in the air without the use of these controversial machines. "[In 2010], in reaction to public anger from members of Congress, passengers and advocates, the TSA contracted with the Army Public Health Command to do independent radiation surveys," wrote ProPublica reporter Michael Gabrall. "But email messages obtained in a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a civil liberties group, raise questions about the independence of the Army surveys. One email sent by TSA health and safety director Jill Segraves shows that local TSA officials were given advance notice and allowed to 'pick and choose' which systems the Army could check."