Originally Posted by
Popperian
There is a real and substantial risk to pregnant women in those scanners. Babies undergo very fast (stressed) cellular replication. Small alterations in bio-chemical processes, DNA mutagenesis or anything minor like this can cascade down the line much faster than in an adult and have huge long-term effects on a baby.
For the TSA to be telling people the machines are "safe" for children and pregnant women is utter insanity and it tells you exactly how much you can't trust ANYTHING they say because what they are saying is directly conflicted with the laws of physics and biochemistry.
I'm an aerospace engineer with a more macro understanding of physics and certainly not at the particle level. I understand the basics of why these machines are dangerous and how clear and present the danger is concerning these machines. Voluntarily subjecting one's self to ionizing radiation in any form beyond what's naturally occuring is reckless and the U.S. government's action of duping, soft-pedaling, and coericing its citizens to submit to ionizing radiation is somewhere between negligent and criminal.
FYI, I hadn't noticed the difference in penetration between clothed areas and the skull until you pointed it out.
Thanks for boiling down the basic issue to a common level of understanding. This is so basic that I'm surprised it hasn't been published by an independent review body. Perhaps that's the point: the particle physics are SO basic that it's not worth the time of experts, except as a patriotic duty, to publish such as paper. I can fully comprehend why the TSA would want to suppress this type of discussion.