The new airport scanners being used by the TSA are machines that use a type of X-Ray usually filtered out in medical machines because they are so readily absorbed by the body. The new machines have been rushed into use thru a recommendation of the former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff. His company subsequently got a big contract with the largest manufacturer, Rapiscan. The machines are not as good as a metal detector when it comes to seeing a hidden gun but they were bought to see underwear bombs. one of the problems is that they may not do their job well and will irradiate an entire population certainly causing some cancers. Further the machines are extremely mechanically complex and any error or failure could lead to an unintended very high dose of radiation. Since the machines apparently do not check each dose nobody would know that the machines were giving each victim a carcinogenic dose. If you burn easily in the sun or are prone to cancer or have skin cancer in your family you might be well advised to not only get a pat down instead, but avoid the area within 2 yards of the machine. That’s because radiation is being scattered out of the machine and may be leaking from behind it, unknown to the TSA agent. The TSA agent is also in danger of overexposure and the effect of X-Ray exposure is cumulative, so each dose gets a person closer to cancer and other illnesses which may not show up for many years. Almost no research or testing has been done, contrary to the statements of Janet Napolitano. The few scientific peer review research papers that have been written make a case for the exposure being higher than stated. They also predict that the X-raying of an entire population will eventually precipitate some fatalities. At our site AfterthePress.com we are uploading, and will have links to more information about the machines and real research papers from qualified scientists.