TSA: Full-body scanner safe for prostheses

One passenger worried that her breast prosthesis might set off an alarm if she went through the new full-body scanner at O’Hare International Airport. Another wondered whether his “fake hip” meant he would automatically be hand-wanded at the security checkpoint instead of receiving the touch-free body scan. A third was concerned about two medical issues: She has a heart pacemaker and she uses a wheelchair much of the time. “I didn’t see any handrails in the photo of the scanner I saw in the Chicago Tribune,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to stand very long without support.”

Jon Hilkevitch writes that these and other passengers with artificial body parts should not fear full-body scanner because these scanners are safe for all passengers, according to Jim Fotenos, spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Travelers with pacemakers, who have long been advised to stay away from the traditional metal-detector doorways, can undergo a body scan, or a pat-down and wanding instead.

The imaging technology in the body scan uses low-energy X-rays that do not penetrate the skin, Fotenos said.

This is bad for the TSA in terms of being able to detect weapons or explosives hidden inside the body cavity of a criminal or terrorist, but it means that prosthetic devices, artificial limbs, and surgically replaced body parts will not show up on the body scan image, and are therefore unlikely to cause the passengers to be flagged, he said.

The body scanners are being rolled out at airports across the United States in the next four years — 450 scanners will be deployed at U.S. airports by the end of 2010, 950 by the end of 2011; and 1,800 by the end of 2014. Passengers may decline a body scan and receive alternative screening designed to provide the same level of security, including those who feel they may not be able to stand for the scan, Fotenos said.