EPIC v. DHS: New FOIA'd Documents Raise New Questions About WBI Radiation
Jun 27, 2011, 12:28 pm
#18
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The article also links to this report:
http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/radiation_NIST.pdf
The report documents "over scan" resulting in four beams of concentrated x-rays projected past the edges of the cabinet. I wouldn't go near those things!
http://epic.org/privacy/backscatter/radiation_NIST.pdf
The report documents "over scan" resulting in four beams of concentrated x-rays projected past the edges of the cabinet. I wouldn't go near those things!
Jun 27, 2011, 1:37 pm
#19
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What with the cancer clusters TSA has at some airports, I really wouldn't be all that surprised to find x-ray machines operating with covers not in place or safeties wired around. Good luck to the TSOs working those airports. If you get treated by your employer the same way your employer treats passengers you are in for a very rough row to hoe trying to get workman's compensation.
Jun 27, 2011, 2:32 pm
#20
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Slashdot.org: Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers
The website slashdot.org has just posted an article titled Cancer Cluster Possibly Found Among TSA Workers.
The slashdot article repeats much of the same information that has already been posted here on FT, but their posting the article is still great news. Mainstream news outlets frequently start covering a given topic a few days after that topic is posted and discussed on slashdot.
The slashdot article repeats much of the same information that has already been posted here on FT, but their posting the article is still great news. Mainstream news outlets frequently start covering a given topic a few days after that topic is posted and discussed on slashdot.
Jun 27, 2011, 4:08 pm
#22
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Jun 27, 2011, 4:32 pm
#23
Join Date: Feb 2010
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This development is interesting.
In a November 14, 2010, editorial to USA Today, Napolitano declared, among other presumably false statements:
"AIT machines are safe..."
I'm currently challenged to find an original source containing her testimony to a Senate committee where she declared that samesaid machines are "more than safe", intoning that they could do such things as cure diabetes as a "more than" qualifier certainly would indicate.
However, it appears that these machines may actually be giving people cancer.
It just boggles the mind.
FWIW, are the cancer boxes at BOS of the BKSX or MMW variety?
In a November 14, 2010, editorial to USA Today, Napolitano declared, among other presumably false statements:
"AIT machines are safe..."
I'm currently challenged to find an original source containing her testimony to a Senate committee where she declared that samesaid machines are "more than safe", intoning that they could do such things as cure diabetes as a "more than" qualifier certainly would indicate.
However, it appears that these machines may actually be giving people cancer.
It just boggles the mind.
FWIW, are the cancer boxes at BOS of the BKSX or MMW variety?
Jun 27, 2011, 8:02 pm
#25
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Jun 27, 2011, 8:52 pm
#26
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 733
It should also be noted that shoe-sizing scanners were once considered safe, and doctors actually recommended that people smoke cigarettes to improve lung function. Both were deemed "perfectly safe" at the time.
And then people started dying from cancer.
We certainly have no idea whether MMW are safe or not. The simple fact of the matter is that there exist zero relevant, peer reviewed studies of the long-term human health effects of MMW. Not. a. one.
They may be safe. They may not be. Based on the government's track record, I certainly wouldn't be making any assumptions on what has been said regarding the safety of MMW, either.
After all, Backscatter scanners, such as those used at BOS, and apparently for a longer, larger scale than at other airports, are "more than safe." Except apparently they cause cancer. Ooops.
I predicted, right here on FT, we'd start to see such clusters in vulnerable populations, particularly children and those around the machines most. Looks like I was off by about 9 years. Sorry for my miscalculation.
Though I will add, we can't be entirely certain at this point that it is the whole body imaging scanners causing said cancers. The circumstantial evidence is pretty damning, though.
And then people started dying from cancer.
We certainly have no idea whether MMW are safe or not. The simple fact of the matter is that there exist zero relevant, peer reviewed studies of the long-term human health effects of MMW. Not. a. one.
They may be safe. They may not be. Based on the government's track record, I certainly wouldn't be making any assumptions on what has been said regarding the safety of MMW, either.
After all, Backscatter scanners, such as those used at BOS, and apparently for a longer, larger scale than at other airports, are "more than safe." Except apparently they cause cancer. Ooops.
I predicted, right here on FT, we'd start to see such clusters in vulnerable populations, particularly children and those around the machines most. Looks like I was off by about 9 years. Sorry for my miscalculation.
Though I will add, we can't be entirely certain at this point that it is the whole body imaging scanners causing said cancers. The circumstantial evidence is pretty damning, though.
Last edited by barbell; Jun 27, 2011 at 9:08 pm Reason: X-linked my own post. Enjoy it twice.
Jun 27, 2011, 9:00 pm
#27
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Not directly related to TSA but to what government will do; in the late 50's I had severe childhood asthma. There was a medicinal asthma cigarette that was prescribed by my doctor at the time. I was probably about 10 years old at the time.
Last edited by essxjay; Dec 31, 2015 at 2:37 am Reason: unnecessary wholesale quoting
Jun 27, 2011, 9:10 pm
#28
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What with the cancer clusters TSA has at some airports, I really wouldn't be all that surprised to find x-ray machines operating with covers not in place or safeties wired around. Good luck to the TSOs working those airports. If you get treated by your employer the same way your employer treats passengers you are in for a very rough row to hoe trying to get workman's compensation.
Jun 27, 2011, 9:10 pm
#29
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 733
That is exactly what I'm talking about, Boggie Dog.
The government, at some point, deemed such things "safe", otherwise your doctor probably wouldn't have been able to prescribe.
It's important to remember that the following items have been deemed "safe":
Nuclear fallout
Cigarette smoking
Backscatter whole body imaging scanners
MMW whole body imaging scanners
(list is not meant to be exhaustive)
The government, at some point, deemed such things "safe", otherwise your doctor probably wouldn't have been able to prescribe.
It's important to remember that the following items have been deemed "safe":
Nuclear fallout
Cigarette smoking
Backscatter whole body imaging scanners
MMW whole body imaging scanners
(list is not meant to be exhaustive)
Jun 27, 2011, 9:18 pm
#30
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Posts: 38,413
No way! You don't put unknown stuff in an MRI chamber! It can do some very nasty things to large ferrous objects that are even nearby. I doubt the machine would survive the first large ferrous object in a suitcase (not that it would remain in the suitcase.)
I've felt their power once--my wife was getting an MRI. We had both chosen clothing specifically with the MRI in mind but apparently there was a little bit of metal in her shoes. Where I have no idea as these were very lightweight things that were quite flexible. However, when I handed her her shoes I felt the magnet (and not it's full power, either--it wasn't scanning then) tugging at them.
Low power, 3' from the tube and a tiny piece of metal and it had enough power to draw them in. Full power--they've been known to grab an oxygen cylinder and hurl it across the room, *THROUGH* the machine (not in the end) and kill the kid inside.
I've felt their power once--my wife was getting an MRI. We had both chosen clothing specifically with the MRI in mind but apparently there was a little bit of metal in her shoes. Where I have no idea as these were very lightweight things that were quite flexible. However, when I handed her her shoes I felt the magnet (and not it's full power, either--it wasn't scanning then) tugging at them.
Low power, 3' from the tube and a tiny piece of metal and it had enough power to draw them in. Full power--they've been known to grab an oxygen cylinder and hurl it across the room, *THROUGH* the machine (not in the end) and kill the kid inside.