X-ray proof underwear, new defense in war with TSA scanners

Passengers traveling by air coming up to Xmas in the United States, who are worried about the Transportation Security Administration security scanners filming their privates now have a way out: anti-radiation underwear.

Oooooooo .......... sexy !!

Unfortunately, those who refuse the scanner are subject to the pat-down search which includes the crotch area and chest.

This policy is expected to include wearers of radiation shielding undies.

TSA chief John Pistole insists that there is no danger from radiation in the scans and that intensive searches are necessary to prevent increasingly imaginative bombers from boarding planes.

The TSA may be denied the pleasure of looking at your privates on x-ray, if you opt to wear the new garments, but that will not stop them from being able to - grope-at-will - all travelers who's privates they are unable to inspect in any other way.

The day I start believing what a Government tells me is a long way off, I'm still awaiting independent radiation testing on the TSA machines.

A Columbia University professor who studies radiation effects believes we are underestimating the potential cancerous risk of going through airport X-ray scanners. "Skin cancers are a particular concern," says David J. Brenner.

According to Brenner, the "backscatter” X-ray machines used in some airports does deliver a low dose radiation but that figure has to be taken into context. Evaluating the risks comes with a hefty dose of uncertainty, Brenner points out.

Skin cancers worry Brenner, he admits. He says the low-energy X-rays used in these scanners "deposit a significant fraction of their total dose, certainly not all, in the skin." He points out children are more sensitive than adults to radiation.

So should people opt for pat-downs instead of these scanners? Brenner believes the individual risk is quite small for infrequent fliers, but for those who fly often, "opting for pat-downs is perhaps a rational option."


BUT HERE'S THE PROBLEM THERE .................

Have you ever wondered about those gloves the TSA agents use over and over on all the intimate patdowns they do on passengers at the airport? Doctors are speaking out about how unsanitary this practice is.

According to the Daily Mail, a woman who had a sanitary pad on and who went through the body scanner at the airport was singled out for a patdown due to the sanitary pad being shown on the scanner.

The unidentified woman wrote to Gladrags, a women's health company, about her humiliating experience: "I was subjected to a search so invasive that I was left crying and dealing with memories that I thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assaults.

Since the TSA patdowns include invasive groin groping, doctors are concerned about the gloves used by the agents involved. These gloves are not changed for each passenger, but used over and over again.

Dr Thomas Warner from Wisconsin said: "There is no doubt that bacteria (staph, strep, v.cholerae etc.) and viruses (noro, enteroviruses, herpes, hepatitis A and papilloma viruses) can be spread by contaminated vinyl or latex gloves.

"If a traveller has diarrhea and is soiled, as can and does happen, the causative agent can be spread by this method since bacteria and viruses in moist environments have greater viability.
"The traveler readjusting clothes can easily get the infectious agents on their hands and therefore into their mouth, nose and eyes."

Dr Warner raises the question "if we as doctors have guidelines, we must wear gloves and have oversight" why is the TSA not subject to these same kind of guidelines?

Dr Warner went on to say that the "gloves should be changed between patdowns, especially if the gloved hand is inside clothes or in the genital area... even if clothed. Travelers should be advised of this and hand-wash and change clothes ASAP after these intimate examinations."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, have issued a statement: "If you are traveling and are going to be searched, you can request that the TSA agent change his or her gloves."

The Transportation Safety Administration continues to defend its policies, claiming that there is no other way to protect the public from a potential terrorist attack using a commercial aircraft. Even Barack Obama has said that these invasive methods, although an inconvenience, are a necessary tool that the flying public will just have to live with if we are to remain safe. Of course, neither Obama nor any member of congress [or their families] are subject to these screenings. If they were, this nonsense would cease immediately.