Airport security officers are to be monitored for exposure to dangerous levels of radiation from the controversial scanners which are used to screen passengers before flights.
The Transport Security Administration's decision to give radiation-measuring devices to security officers in 100 U.S. airports comes after years spent dismissing claims that the scanners pose any health threat.
Security workers have long-complained that they were not being properly informed about the health risks by the TSA, and the federal agency's decision for further study only confirms their fears.
The machines have provoked health concerns about excessive radiation exposure since 2004 when a TSA study said that there were a handful of dangerous machines but then never removed the faulty ones.
Due to a lack of transparency during the tests, the fears continued to lurk among workers as the machines were used more and more as the years went on.
'We don't think the agency is sharing enough information,' said
'Radiation just invokes a lot of fear,' security worker spokesman Milly Rodriguez.told USA Today in 2010.Now, the TSA has ordered government vendors to produce dosimeters- wearable devices that measure radiation levels for security workers at over 100 airports across the country.
The machines cannot produce more than 0.005 millirem per scan, according to TSA. In comparison, a chest X-ray will expose someone to 10 millirem of radiation and the maximum recommended exposure to radiation from man-made sources is 100 millirem per year, according to TSA.
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