<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NYJETS:
Not all of you will be able to respond, but as I am pregnant with my first</font>
Congratulations on your first little one, and welcome to FlyerTalk!
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> I am having a great deal of difficulty going through security at airports. I will not go through the x-ray, therefore, I have to be escorted around and "patted down" while my carry-on bags/computer go through the xray machine.</font>
To reiterate and expand upon what others have already posted:
- You really don't have anything to worry about in going through the security checkpoint, pregnant or not. Unlike the implication in your original posts, passengers, unlike carry-ons put on the conveyor belt, are not subject to X-ray examination at the security checkpoint (notwithstanding the "reality TV" hidden camera stunt at IFP that is now the subject of a lawsuit).
- Walking through the metal detector subjects you to a static electro-magnetic (EM) field, but the strength of this field is so negligible as to be the least of your worries. Per the link provided by another poster, the extra cosmic radiation you receive while in flight at altitude is a far greater concern to your unborn child's health than anything the metal detector is going to do.
- If you instead get a hand inspection, you better make sure that it's actually a literal "hand" inspection, and not done with a handheld "wand." As someone else already mentioned, these operate on exactly the same prinicples as the detector you walk through.
- Despite the above, if you are still concerned about the EM field generated by the metal detector, consider the other far more potent sources of such radiation that you encounter in your daily life, including radio transmitters. Consider that a garage door opener must transmit its signal at least 100 feet, and that a cellular telephone needs to potentially transmit several miles to get to the nearest base station. Do either of these devices operate anywhere near you? Perhaps do you operate these devices yourself? The risks of an airport metal detector is down in the noise compared to everything else present in the modern world.
- If you are still worried about walking through the airport metal detector, you have no busisness boarding a plane or being anywhere near any number of modern electronics. You probably should confine yourself to an Amish enclave. I don't mean to be offensive by this comment, but it's probably accurate to say that there are very few situations in the US that you can be over time at less a health risk from radiation than what you'd receive from an airport metal detector.