Why I Always Opt Out of the TSA’s Naked Body Scanners

By Anthony Gucciardi
theintelhub.com
December 20, 2012

The TSA’s naked body scanners have created mass congestion and humiliation within every major airport at which they are installed, but leading radiation experts say that they are also causing mass waves of cancer— the exact number of which is impossible to calculate. You may or may not remember, but in November of last year a bombshell report linking the scanners to cancer actually led to a TSA press response in which they promised to re-test the scanners through independent trials.

As you may have guessed, they of course decided not to proceed with the testing after promising to do so. If they had actually done so, of course, then it would reveal to travels just how much radiation they are being blasted with when travelling through the ‘harmless’ scanners.

It was actually back in 1998 that radiation experts, much like one leading radiation expert I spoke with in a video below, actually projected that the scanners were causing cancer deaths thanks to the emission of radiation. This of course was back in 1998, long before the widespread usage of the scanners. With these machines being rolled out nationwide and having millions pass through each year, the estimate of 100 or so deaths per year back in 1998 can actually be expanded to the thousands (if not more). Even John Hopkins scientists warned similarly that the scanners can wreak havoc on the body.

I spoke with Dr. Edward Group, a practicing radiation expert of over 20 years and the founder of Global Healing Center specifically to address the dangers of the TSA’s naked body scanners:

TSA Scanners Emitting Around ‘Three CT Scans’ Each

Even the TSA has admitted that they have no idea of the radiation levels emitted by the scanners, being forced to admit that they produced around ’10 times’ more radiation than expected. Of course this may actually be even much higher, with some radiation experts (as detailed by Dr. Group) saying that it is equivalent to around 3 CT scans. Scans that have been linked to cancer on their own. This also does not even include the radiation taken in from the actual plane ride.

Also, oftentimes with multiple flights and frequent fliers, individuals are going through these body scanners on a routine basis — often more than a few times in one trip.

And what about the TSA employees themselves? As it turns out, they have actually been getting cancer themselves. As TSA employees from Boston call it, they were hit with a ‘cancer cluster’ from operating the X-ray machines day after day. Unsurprisingly, the TSA heads themselves decided to ignore the cancer cluster in employees and instead dismiss it as nonsense:

In other words, the TSA heads tend to treat their own employees as many TSA agents choose to treat passengers. In my own experience, I have also dealt with my fair share of TSA abuse and even ridicule for daring to ‘opt out’ of their cancer-causing scanners.“After Union representatives in Boston discovered a “cancer cluster” amongst TSA workers linked with radiation from the body scanners, the TSA sought to downplay the matter and refused to issue employees with dosimeters to measure levels of exposure.”

Don’t Like Cancer-Causing Naked Body Scanners? You Must be Insane!

As you may have already experienced, choosing to opt out of the TSA’s cancer-causing naked body scanners may seem logical to anyone who is informed as to the dangers, but to some TSA employees it’s comparable to labeling yourself as a terrorist. Little do these employees know of course that they are actually giving themselves cancer by operating and standing within about 2 feet of the machine itself.

In my own experience just this week I chose to opt out of the scanner (which can be done by telling them beforehand you’d like to ‘opt out’) and was met with a militant agent who questioned why I would ‘ever do such a thing’. After explaining how the radiation is actually causing cancer in passengers and employees alike, the TSA ‘agent’ then told me that the machine actually emitted ‘no radiation’ and that it was a conspiracy theory. He then said I can choose to ‘believe conspiracy theories’ If i’d like, but that I would have to stand in the ‘designated area’ until they could find a male TSA employee to pat me down.

Of course when choosing not to have your entire body irradiated you are treated like a criminal with something to hide. You are told to stand in a designated area away from passengers, many actually asking me if I was in trouble. These same individuals would then proceed to go into the body scanner and follow their instruction, with a large percentage being ‘selected’ to be pat down anyway — the same pat down procedure that ‘opt outs’ go through.

After standing in the ‘designated area’ and being watched closely like a convict, it often takes upwards of 45 minutes to even be patted down. A procedure that involves a man or woman touching your genital areas very thoroughly, testing you for explosive material, and of course ensuring that you do not move a single muscle without instruction. These TSA employees also have been busted again and again for handling child porn, abusing women, sending rape victims to the emergency room, saving the naked images of passengers, and much more. And again, this procedure is actually given to a large number of those that actually go through the scanner.

Do you feel safer?

In the history of the TSA, they also haven’t caught a single ‘terrorist’. Even amateur hobbyists are able to get through the TSA scanners by placing weapon-like materials on certain parts of the body, rendering the billion dollars worth of scanners entirely useless.

The naked body scanners simply are not safe, and they are not making us any safer. And if the TSA had not been ‘above Congress’ as they so boastfully claim, they may not even exist today.

This article originally appeared at Natural Society

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