Originally published November 9 2010
Pilots Association urges airline pilots to opt out of TSA naked body scanners
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) In yet another significant blow to the TSA's naked body scanners, the president of the Allied Pilots Association (APA) issued a letter urging all pilots to opt out of the naked body scanners, also known as Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT).
"Backscatter AIT devices now being deployed produce ionizing radiation, which could be harmful to your health," wrote Allied Pilots Association president Dave Bates. He then went on to add:
"We are exposed to radiation every day on the job. For example, a typical Atlantic crossing during a solar flare can expose a pilot to radiation equivalent to 100 chest X-rays per hour. Requiring pilots to go through the AIT [naked body scanner] means additional radiation exposure. I share our pilots' concerns about this additional radiation exposure and plan to recommend that our pilots refrain from going through the AIT. We already experience significantly higher radiation exposure than most other occupations, and there is mounting evidence of higher-than-average cancer rates as a consequence."
He goes on to call for airline pilots to be exempted from security screening.
Air travelers get the same radiation
Air travelers subjecting themselves to the TSA naked body scanners are exposed to the same radiation as pilots who are scanned by those machines, of course. The ionizing radiation emitted by the body scanners is concentrated on the skin, says Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University's center for radiological research. And it could cause skin cancer in a small but significant number of people who may be susceptible to gene mutations (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12...).
Although the amount of radiation emitted by these machines is considerably lower than the radiation received while flying at high altitude, this is "artificial radiation," and by that I mean it is radiation that's focused by a man-made machine rather than propagating as ambient background radiation. And when radiation is focused on a target subject through a man-made machine, things can go wrong. How many medical CT scanners have been found to be mis-calibrated, operating at radiation doses that were orders of magnitude higher than their safe levels? This happens every day in hospitals across the world today, and these CT scanners are operated by professionally-trained radiology experts! (http://www.naturalnews.com/028621_CT_scans_c...)
The APA doesn't want its pilots going through the TSA's naked body scanners precisely because these machines add a radiation burden to your body. And for what? For the illusion of airport security?
Do you realize what kind of intense background checks pilots have to go through in order to fly a passenger airliner? They are subjected to rigorous physical and psychological testing as well as criminal history background checks. Pilots are not a risk to air security. To treat them like terrorists at security checkpoints is a demeaning yet useless waste of taxpayer dollars.
Clearly, the whole point of subjecting pilots to these demeaning pat-downs is to remind them they all live in a police state. It has nothing whatsoever to do with actual security. (Have you ever heard of a PILOT hijacking a passenger airliner in the US?)
And of course that's the whole point of subjecting air travelers to naked body scanners, too: All the sheeple have to be reminded from time to time that they are under the control of government agents. Hence the "you're under arrest" position of the arms that travelers are told to assume when passing through the naked body scanners. This body position, with both hands held over your head, gets the public used to assuming the "I surrender" position when confronted with authority figures. It's really more of a training program to get the public indoctrinated for yet more police state tactics down the road.
Fortunately, more and more people are now opting out of the naked body scans. Sure, they get felt up by TSA agents who grope their crotches, breasts and buttocks (http://www.naturalnews.com/030100_naked_body...), but at least they don't get subjected to yet another dose of ionizing radiation that can contribute to skin cancer.
Don't you find it fascinating, by the way, that the U.S. government tells everybody to avoid tanning salons because they claim "UV radiation promotes skin cancer," yet when it comes to airport security, they want to subject you to a far more harmful wavelength of radiation "for your safety" ? (X-Rays are far more harmful than ultraviolet light.)
I guess radiation is all okay as long as it serves the police state interests of the federal government.
Sources for this story include:
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/archives/...
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