Originally Posted by martindo

I got a polite laugh in Schiphol when I asked for the pat-down instead of the machine. The two guys who are their equivalent of TSA said "we don't use radiation, we use ultrasound". Can anyone confirm that this new scanning method is widely (universally?) in use now?

As for Billy's comment, perhaps he should review safety standards. They are generally based on exposure per kg of body weight. But the TSA machines are designed to penetrate only to the skin, not to function as an x-ray. So, if they indeed use radiation, the safety would have to be changed by a factor of 100 or so -- how much does your skin weigh?