FlyerTalk Forums - LAX security x-rays a cast, options?

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- Practical Travel Safety and Security Issues (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/practical-travel-safety-security-issues-686/)

- - LAX security x-rays a cast, options? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/practical-travel-safety-security-issues/1079123-lax-security-x-rays-cast-options.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollkiller (Post 13858537)

If this is producing enough x-ray to see bone after going through the cast, skin, and muscle it is penetrating more than 1/4 inch.

I hope they're issuing lead jockstraps to anyone who is getting their leg(s) scanned with that.

I'm reasonably certain that scrotal tissue doesn't provide more than 1/4" protection for the testes...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wannagotoo (Post 13856798)

Unfortunately I have a broken arm. The two times I flew out of LAX (not OGG, LAS, SNA, etc) they had to x-ray the cast. They take 4 "pictures" to view all sides of the cast. The x-ray is strong enough to see the bones. I asked the TSA agent why only LAX, she said that any airport that has the machine has to use it. I asked her how safe it was, she said it can only x-ray the cast. When I showed her the bones in the x-ray, she just smiled. How can I find out if this is dangerous and if I have the right to ask for a swab (as in the other airports) instead of the x-ray? I know this isn't a common question but when you never know when you too could trip over luggage on a German train and break your arm. Thanks for any information.

This is a CPI machine and it uses backscatter x-ray just like the ones that take the whole image of you. If they have the machine they are required to use it. If you refuse you dont get to continue to your gate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyecue (Post 15478537)

What is CPI?

A must read on backscatter x-rays...

http://n.pr/bKGCKx

Quote:

"The X-ray dose from these devices has often been compared in the media to the cosmic ray exposure inherent to airplane travel or that of a chest X-ray. However, this comparison is very misleading: both the air travel cosmic ray exposure and chest Xrays have much higher X-ray energies and the health consequences are appropriately understood in terms of the whole body volume dose. In contrast, these new airport scanners are largely depositing their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, and since this is such a small fraction of body weight/vol, possibly by one to two orders of magnitude, the real dose to the skin is now high."

Exactly why shouldn't we be just as concerned about backscatter x-ray technology as these U/C faculty seem to be?