Airport body scanners may cause cancer: Scientist

LONDON: At a time when airports around the globe are planning to install full body scanners to maximise security, the US Congress has been warned that the X-ray imaging could increase the risk of skin cancer in air passengers.

The body scanners emit radiation up to 20 times more powerful than previously thought and could be particularly risky for children, said Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University's centre for radiological research.

Although the "individual risks" associated with X-ray backscatter scanners are probably extremely small, it could multiply with the number of scanning, he said.

"If all 800 million people who use airports every year were screened with X-rays then the very small individual risk multiplied by the large number of screened people might imply a potential public health or societal risk. The population risk has the potential to be significant," Dr Brenner was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

There should be more research on the device to look at the way it affects specific groups who could be more sensitive to radiation, he said.

According to him, children and passengers with gene mutations -- around one in 20 of the population -- are more at risk as they are less able to repair X-ray damage to their DNA. The most likely risk from the airport scanners is a common type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma, he said.

The cancer is usually curable and often occurs in the head and neck of people aged between 50 and 70. Dr Brenner pointed out that it would be difficult to hide a weapon on the head or neck so proposes missing out that part of the body from the scanning process.

"If there are increases in cancers as a result of irradiation of children, they would most likely appear some decades in the future. It would be prudent not to scan the head and neck," he added.

Dr Brenner, who is originally from Liverpool but now works at the New York university, recently aired his concerns to the Congressional Biomedical Caucus in the US -- members of Congress who meet to exchange ideas on medical research.

He urged them to look at his concerns but said it was important to balance any health issues against passengers' safety when flying.