Resolution A-103
2011 AMA Annual Meeting
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Introduced by: New Mexico Medical Society
Subject: Potential Health Risks of Whole Body Backscatter X-Ray Airport Security Scanners
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WHEREAS the use of full body scanners at airports in the United States is becoming the norm for routine screening, will soon be in use in nearly all U.S. airports, and nearly all air travelers will be asked to submit to screening by scanners; and
WHEREAS about half of the full body scanners will utilize low-energy backscatter X-ray technology, a form of ionizing radiation; and
WHEREAS the physics of this type of ionizing radiation suggests that it is likely to break molecular bonds1; and
WHEREAS the stated dose of ionizing radiation delivered by backscatter X-ray scanners of .02 microsieverts is averaged over the entire body and would be considered safe if delivered to the entire body, but the majority of the energy is delivered to the skin and underlying tissue and the actual ionizing dose delivered incident to the skin has not been established and may be significantly and dangerously higher than the stated dose; and
WHEREAS cosmic ray exposure during air travel, or X-ray doses received with routine chest X-rays, have much higher X-ray energies, with health risks appropriately understood in terms of whole body volume dose, but because the airport X-ray scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, the frequently heard comparisons to cosmic rays and chest X-rays are misleading; and
WHEREAS it is estimated that about 5 percent of the population may carry gene mutations which may make them less able to repair X-ray induced damage to DNA in skin cells; and
WHEREAS individuals who are immunosuppressed have well established increased rates of skin cancer and are likely less able to repair X-ray induced damage to DNA in skin cells; and
WHEREAS children may be more susceptible to X-ray induced damage to DNA because of their increased rate of cell division; and
NM Medical Society Resolution A-103
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WHEREAS the large population of older travelers, especially those greater than 65, may be particularly at risk because of the known biology of melanocyte aging; and
WHEREAS the risk of the X-ray exposure to white blood cells perfusing the skin, is unknown; and
WHEREAS the mutagenic risk to germ cells in testicles is unknown, but may be increased because of the proximity of the testicles to the skin; and
WHEREAS the risk to the fetus of a pregnant woman is unknown; and
WHEREAS other individuals may be at increased risk because of increased cumulative exposure to ionizing radiation, including those who live at altitude, and those who fly frequently, especially flight crews; and
WHEREAS the incidence of skin malignancies, including melanoma, is already increasing at alarming rates in the general population; and
WHEREAS there are no currently established regulations that require routine calibration and testing of the backscatter X-ray scanners to ensure that the X-ray dose being delivered is within specifications, either for total dose delivered or for even distribution of the dose, and to ensure that glitches in the relatively intense beam required to scan an individual in several seconds do not deliver an intense radiation dose to a single spot in the skin; and
WHEREAS there is no guarantee that future security considerations will not result in the Transportation Safety Administration [TSA] deciding to seek higher resolution and therefore more intense scanning of certain regions of the body, for example the groin area; and
WHEREAS there have been no prospective trials and no trials that were conducted outside of those reportedly done by the manufacturers of these machines to independently establish the safety and the reliability of this technology, especially the risks of the skin dose rather than characterizing the risk in terms of whole body exposure; and
WHEREAS the concerns listed here should be sufficient to warrant further study of a possibly significant and preventable public health hazard; and
NM Medical Society Resolution A-103
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WHEREAS there is alternative technology that is also currently available that uses non-ionizing milimeter radio wave technology that reportedly produces images that are comparable in quality and cost to the X-ray scanners; therefore be it
RESOLVED that the New Mexico Delegation to the American Medical Association submit this resolution, including the WHEREAS clauses and the following RESOLVED, to the AMA House of Delegates at the Annual 2011 Meeting; and be it further
RESOLVED that our American Medical Association study the available information concerning the safety of whole body backscatter X-ray airport security scanners, with the intent of providing recommendations of a public health nature, including:
1. Additional studies that should be undertaken.
2. Whether there is sufficient evidence to suggest that specific regulations should be put into place to ensure that the scanners are performing according to clearly established specifications on an ongoing basis.
3. Whether there is sufficient concern to recommend that some or all those who travel on commercial aircraft should decline to be scanned by X-ray scanners.
4. Whether there is sufficient concern to recommend that the Transportation Safety Administration consider the preferential use of alternative technology such as milimeter wave scanners in lieu of backscatter X-ray scanners.
5. Whether an independent panel of experts to include biophysicists and radiation biologists should be convened to issue further recommendations.
Maguire, G., "Full Body X-Ray Scanners At The Airport Are Potentially Dangerous - We Should Use Alternative Technology", http://www.articlesbase.com/cancer-articles/full-body-x-ray-scanners-at-the-airport-are-potentially-dangerous-we-should-use-alternative-technology-3731003.html
Sedat, J., Shuman, M., Agard, D., and Stroud, R., "Letter of Concern to Dr. John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology", from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, UCSF, Apr 6, 2010, http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf
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