Body scanners scrapped by Airport

Security Posted on 18/09/2012

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Manchester Airport has been forced to stop its trial of backscatter X-ray machines, and replace them with new privacy-friendly scanners.

The machines use low doses of X-rays to produce a 'naked' image of the body, ideal for spotting hidden objects, but the EU has refused its approval due to health and privacy issues.

Although deemed safe by a committee of experts earlier this year, the scanners have been criticised for posing a potential cancer threat.

Instead, the airport will begin to trial new privacy-friendly scanners which process images of passengers without a member of staff having to look at them. The machine then informs staff of potential dangerous objects using a stick figure.

The new scanners will arrive at the airport on 1 October 2012 for a limited trial period of three months. After that, a decision will be made by the airport as to their success.

Despite health-related criticisms of the scanners, chief executive of Manchester Airport Groups, Andrew Harrison, was sorry to see them go. The Telegraph reported him as saying "We're baffled by this situation because health experts say they are safe plus the overwhelming majority of our passengers and security staff prefer body scanners to frisking and it's frustrating that Brussels has allowed this successful trial to end."

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