Resolution A-103
2011 AMA Annual Meeting
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Introduced by:
New Mexico Medical Society
Subject:
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Potential Health Risks of Whole Body Backscatter X-Ray Airport
Security Scanners
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WHEREAS
the use of full body scanners at airports in the United States is
becoming the norm for routine screening, will soon be in use in
nearly all U.S. airports, and nearly all air travelers will be asked to
submit to screening by scanners; and
WHEREAS
about half of the full body scanners will utilize low-energy
backscatter X-ray technology, a form of ionizing radiation; and
WHEREAS
the physics of this type of ionizing radiation suggests that it is
likely to break molecular bonds1; and
WHEREAS
the stated dose of ionizing radiation delivered by backscatter X-ray
scanners of .02 microsieverts is averaged over the entire body and
would be considered safe if delivered to the entire body, but the
majority of the energy is delivered to the skin and underlying
tissue and the actual ionizing dose delivered incident to the skin
has not been established and may be significantly and dangerously
higher than the stated dose; and
WHEREAS
cosmic ray exposure during air travel, or X-ray doses received with
routine chest X-rays, have much higher X-ray energies, with health
risks appropriately understood in terms of whole body volume
dose, but because the airport X-ray scanners are largely depositing
their energy into the skin and immediately adjacent tissue, the
frequently heard comparisons to cosmic rays and chest X-rays are
misleading; and
WHEREAS
it is estimated that about 5 percent of the population may carry
gene mutations which may make them less able to repair X-ray
induced damage to DNA in skin cells; and
WHEREAS
individuals who are immunosuppressed have well established
increased rates of skin cancer and are likely less able to repair Xray induced damage to DNA in skin cells; and
WHEREAS
children may be more susceptible to X-ray induced damage to
DNA because of their increased rate of cell division; and
NM Medical Society Resolution A-103
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WHEREAS
the large population of older travelers, especially those greater than
65, may be particularly at risk because of the known biology of
melanocyte aging; and
WHEREAS
the risk of the X-ray exposure to white blood cells perfusing the
skin, is unknown; and
WHEREAS
the mutagenic risk to germ cells in testicles is unknown, but may
be increased because of the proximity of the testicles to the skin;
and
WHEREAS
the risk to the fetus of a pregnant woman is unknown; and
WHEREAS
other individuals may be at increased risk because of increased
cumulative exposure to ionizing radiation, including those who
live at altitude, and those who fly frequently, especially flight
crews; and
WHEREAS
the incidence of skin malignancies, including melanoma, is already
increasing at alarming rates in the general population; and
WHEREAS
there are no currently established regulations that require routine
calibration and testing of the backscatter X-ray scanners to ensure
that the X-ray dose being delivered is within specifications, either
for total dose delivered or for even distribution of the dose, and to
ensure that glitches in the relatively intense beam required to scan
an individual in several seconds do not deliver an intense radiation
dose to a single spot in the skin; and
WHEREAS
there is no guarantee that future security considerations will not
result in the Transportation Safety Administration [TSA] deciding
to seek higher resolution and therefore more intense scanning of
certain regions of the body, for example the groin area; and
WHEREAS
there have been no prospective trials and no trials that were
conducted outside of those reportedly done by the manufacturers
of these machines to independently establish the safety and the
reliability of this technology, especially the risks of the skin dose
rather than characterizing the risk in terms of whole body
exposure; and
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WHEREAS
the concerns listed here should be sufficient to warrant further
study of a possibly significant and preventable public health
hazard; and
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NM Medical Society Resolution A-103
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WHEREAS
there is alternative technology that is also currently available that
uses non-ionizing milimeter radio wave technology that reportedly
produces images that are comparable in quality and cost to the Xray scanners; therefore be it
RESOLVED
that the New Mexico Delegation to the American Medical
Association submit this resolution, including the WHEREAS
clauses and the following RESOLVED, to the AMA House of
Delegates at the Annual 2011 Meeting; and be it further
RESOLVED
that our American Medical Association study the available
information concerning the safety of whole body backscatter X-ray
airport security scanners, with the intent of providing
recommendations of a public health nature, including:
1. Additional studies that should be undertaken.
2. Whether there is sufficient evidence to suggest that specific
regulations should be put into place to ensure that the scanners
are performing according to clearly established specifications
on an ongoing basis.
3. Whether there is sufficient concern to recommend that some or
all those who travel on commercial aircraft should decline to be
scanned by X-ray scanners.
4. Whether there is sufficient concern to recommend that the
Transportation Safety Administration consider the preferential
use of alternative technology such as milimeter wave scanners
in lieu of backscatter X-ray scanners.
5. Whether an independent panel of experts to include biophysicists
and radiation biologists should be convened to issue further
recommendations.
Maguire, G., "Full Body X-Ray Scanners At The Airport Are Potentially Dangerous We Should Use Alternative Technology", http://www.articlesbase.com/cancerarticles/full-body-x-ray-scanners-at-the-airport-are-potentially-dangerous-we-should-usealternative-technology-3731003.html
Sedat, J., Shuman, M., Agard, D., and Stroud, R., "Letter of Concern to Dr. John P.
Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology", from the Department of
Biochemistry and Biophysics, UCSF, Apr 6, 2010,
http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf
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