The TSA also frequently cites a study it commissioned by the noted Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. But the Hopkins work did nothing to ensure the consistent safety of those exposed to the radiation from the scanners.
"APL's role was to measure radiation coming off the body scanners to verify that it fell within [accepted] standards. We were testing equipment and in no way determined its safety to humans," Helen Worth, head of public affairs for the Johns Hopkins lab, told AOL News.
"Many news articles have said we declared the equipment to be safe, but that was not what we were tasked to do," she added.
Moreover, the study said APL scientists were unable to test a ready-for-TSA scanner at their lab because the manufacturer would not supply one. Instead, the tests were performed on a scanner cobbled together from spare parts in manufacturer Rapiscan Systems' California warehouse.
"The system evaluated may be configured different than the system deployed to the operational environment," the report said. It added that the APL found two areas in the testing mock-up where escaping radiation could cause exposure to the public that exceeded the annual safe limits.
The TSA also cited the 6,000-member, nonprofit Health Physics Society as endorsing the safety of its scanners. The society has long said "that intentionally exposing people to low levels of ionizing radiation for security screening is justified" if nationally accepted exposure standards are routinely monitored and met.
However, the group says that it did not and does not monitor the safety of TSA's devices -- only that if the devices operate as promised, safety should not be an issue, Howard Dickson, the Society's immediate past president, told AOL News.
