X-Ray Body Scanners Banned in EU

A slight health risk posed to travellers passing through the scanners has led to them being outlawed.

The 27 member countries of the European Union will no longer be using full-body X-ray scanners at airports over safety and health concerns. The massive scanners blast travellers with extremely low levels of ionizing radiation, but critics say that due to the hundreds of millions of travellers passing through airports each year, there is an outside risk that some could develop cancer if they are exposed to the X-rays. Most countries only use the body scanners for secondary screening after a passenger has been flagged as a potential risk. The same kinds of scanners have been in use at most airports across the United States and Canada since early 2010, when air transit authorities were scrambling to find ways to prevent another underwear bomber from detonating an explosive aboard a plane. The EU will now use scanners that use radio frequency waves instead of ionizing radiation so as to reduce the health risk to passengers.