Showing posts with label NAKED BODY SCANNERS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NAKED BODY SCANNERS. Show all posts
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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
Inside TSA scanners: How terahertz waves tear apart human DNA
 |
| Blasted with THz Radiation |
Helium
While the application of scientific knowledge creates technology, sometimes the technology is later redefined by science. Such is the case with terahertz (THz) radiation, the energy waves that drive the technology of the TSA: back scatter airport scanners.
Emerging THz technological applications
THz waves are found between microwaves and infrared on the electromagnetic spectrum. This type of radiation was chosen for security devices because it can penetrate matter such as clothing, wood, paper and other porous material that's non-conducting.
This type of radiation seems less threatening because it doesn't penetrate deeply into the body and is believed to be harmless to both people and animals.
THz waves may have applications beyond security devices. Research has been done to determine the feasibility of using the radiation to detect tumors underneath the skin and for analyzing the chemical properties of various materials and compounds. The potential marketplace for THz driven technological applications may generate many billions of dollars in revenue.
Because of the potential profits, intense research on THz waves and applications has mushroomed over the last decade.
Health risks
The past several years the possible health risks from cumulative exposure to THz waves was mostly dismissed. Experts pointed to THz photons and explained that they are not strong enough to ionize atoms or molecules; nor are they able to break the chains of chemical bonds. They assert—and it is true—that while higher energy photons like ultraviolet rays and X-rays are harmful, the lower energy ones like terahertz waves are basically harmless. [Softpedia.com]
Read Full Article
RELATED ARTICLE:
Airport Scanners Could Give You Cancer Warns Columbia Univ. Scientists
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Thursday, December 9, 2010
TODAY ON THE ALEX JONES SHOW 12/9/10
TODAY ON THE ALEX JONES SHOW
- Joseph Mercola
Alex welcomes to the show Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, health activist, and entrepreneur. Mercola criticizes many of the practices of mainstream medicine and the Food and Drug Administration, particularly vaccination and the use of prescription drugs and surgery to treat diseases. He encourages using water filters to purify drinking water and is strongly opposed to water fluoridation. Alex also talks with Colorado attorney Gary Fielder who has filed a lawsuit under the Fourth Amendment against the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security over the use of naked body scanners. Alex also covers the latest news and takes your calls.
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TSA Agents Revolt Over Body Scanner Radiation Exposure
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Infowars.com
TSA workers are complaining about the amounts of radiation they are being exposed to on a daily basis in the wake of the mass introduction of body scanners to airports around the country.
USA Today reports that TSA agents are unhappy with the fact that they are being kept in the dark by their employers, despite repeated requests for information.
“We don’t think the agency is sharing enough information,” said Milly Rodriguez, occupational health and safety specialist at the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents TSA workers.
“Radiation just invokes a lot of fear.” she added.
According to the USA Today report, several TSA employees have expressed their concerns to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
…a TSA employee at an unidentified airport asked CDC in June to examine concerns about radiation exposures from standing near the new full-body X-ray scanners for hours a day. The CDC said it didn’t have authority to do a hazard assessment unless three or more current employees at one location made a joint request, according to a September letter from the CDC to the unnamed worker. The CDC provided the letter to USA TODAY.
Despite claiming that the body scanners and baggage scanners emit safe doses of radiation and are routinely inspected, the TSA has refused to release its radiation inspection records.
Worse still, an independent study by the CDC carried out in 2004, found that some baggage scanners were in violation of federal radiation standards, and were emitting two or three times beyond the agreed safe limit.
A further 2008 CDC report noted that some x-ray machines were missing protective lead curtains or had had safety features disabled by TSA employees with duct tape, paper towels and other materials.
Now there are even more x-ray devices in use, TSA workers’ concerns, as well as recent public backlash, is beginning to force the issue.
This has prompted members of congress to get involved, with a group led by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass, demanding that the TSA release the documents.
As the USA Today report explains, The TSA is responsible for inspecting the x-ray scanners itself, rather than the FDA, because they are not classed as medical devices.
Following the congressional attention, the TSA has said that it will attempt to release the radiation records to USA Today, but has not indicated when this will be, citing the need to review the records for security reasons.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, the top Republican on a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee over federal workforce issues, has vowed to press the TSA for the documentation.
“It should send some flashing red lights when they won’t allow the public to review that data,” said Chaffetz, who oversaw the passage in the House last year of an amendment to ban “strip-search” imaging at airports.
“You don’t have to look at my wife and 8-year-old daughter naked to secure an airplane,” Chaffetz said at the time.
“You can actually see the sweat on somebody’s back. You can tell the difference between a dime and a nickel. If they can do that, they can see things that quite frankly I don’t think they should be looking at in order to secure a plane,” Chaffetz told the House.
Frankly, more TSA workers should be concerned over the levels of radiation they are being exposed to and are being asked to expose the public to.
Dr Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at the Johns Hopkins school of medicine recently told AFP that “statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays”.
“…we have a situation at the airports where people are so eager to fly that they will risk their lives in this manner,” he added.
John Sedat, a University of California at San Francisco professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the National Academy of Sciences tells CNet that the machines have “mutagenic effects” and will increase the risk of cancer. Sedat previously sent a letter to the White House science Czar John P. Holdren, identifying the specific risk the machines pose to children and the elderly.
The letter stated:
“it appears that real independent safety data do not exist… There has not been sufficient review of the intermediate and long-term effects of radiation exposure associated with airport scanners. There is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations.”
The TSA has repeatedly stated that going through the machines is equal to the radiation encountered during just two minutes of a flight. However, this does not take into account that the scanning machines specifically target only the skin and the muscle tissue immediately beneath.
The scanners are similar to C-Scans and fire ionizing radiation at those inside which penetrates a few centimeters into the flesh and reflects off the skin to form a naked body image.
The firing of ionizing radiation at the body effectively “unzips” DNA, according to scientific research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The research shows that even very low doses of X-ray can delay or prevent cellular repair of damaged DNA, yet pregnant women and children will be subjected to the process as new guidelines including scanners are adopted.
The Inter-Agency Committee on Radiation Safety concluded in their report on the matter that governments must justify the use of the scanners and that a more accurate assessment of the health risks is needed.
Pregnant women and children should not be subject to scanning, according to the report, adding that governments should consider “other techniques to achieve the same end without the use of ionizing radiation.”
“The Committee cited the IAEA’s 1996 Basic Safety Standards agreement, drafted over three decades, that protects people from radiation. Frequent exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cancer and birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,”reported Bloomberg.
Scientists at Columbia University also entered the debate recently, warning that the dose emitted by the naked x-ray devices could be up to 20 times higher than originally estimated, likely contributing to an increase in a common type of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma which affects the head and neck.
“If all 800 million people who use airports every year were screened with X-rays then the very small individual risk multiplied by the large number of screened people might imply a potential public health or societal risk. The population risk has the potential to be significant,” said Dr David Brenner, head of Columbia University’s centre for radiological research.
Despite all these warnings, The Department of Homeland Security claims that the scanners are completely safe, pointing to “independent” verification from the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, both federal government bodies.
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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor at Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, and regular contributor to Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
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Friday, December 3, 2010
ACLU: Flying Americans Fear Being Put On Government Watch List
Steve Watson
Infowars.com
December 3, 2010
Infowars.com
December 3, 2010
The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it is still receiving high volumes of complaints about the new airport screening procedures, and that some travelers say they have not filed official complaints with the TSA because they are fearful of being placed on a government watch list.
Last week the ACLU revealed that it had received over 900 complaints about the naked body scanners and the new pat down measures being implemented by the TSA.
That number swelled to over 1000 before November was through, according to the privacy watchdog.
“These complaints came from men, women and children who reported feeling humiliated and traumatized by these searches, and, in some cases, comparing their psychological impact to sexual assaults.” the ACLU website noted.
Meanwhile, TSA head John Pistole says there were only 49 complaints from travelers over the Thanksgiving weekend, a figure that prompted the TSA to suggest that Americans were largely unconcerned with the new procedures, and were even appreciative of them.
The ACLU disputes this notion, however:
“The low number of complaints received by the TSA is not an endorsement of the security procedures, but rather a result of real or perceived problems with the TSA’s complaint system.” notes Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.
“As the abundant complaints received by the ACLU illustrate, Americans do not want to be forced to choose between letting government agents touch their bodies or take naked pictures of them.” Stanley added.
The ACLU press release notes that the real reasons people have not filed official complaints with the government is because they believed they would either be totally ignored, or worse still, that their act of defiance would land them on a terror watch list.
“Some complainants reported that they had not filed a complaint with the TSA because they were afraid of being put on a watch list or otherwise retaliated against by the government. ” the ACLU press release notes.
“Large numbers of innocent Americans have been caught up by the government’s out-of-control watch list system.” it continues.
The concern is completely vindicated, following the leaking of a reported TSA memo that was circulated at the height of last month’s opt out controversy which “officially addresses those who are opposed to, or engaged in the disruption of the implementation of the enhanced airport screening procedures as ‘domestic extremists’.”
In response to the story, former Congressman Bob Barr filed a Freedom of Information Act request which demanded to know if the TSA had categorized those leading the charge against invasive security measures, namely Matt Drudge, Alex Jones, and John Tyner, via the websites drudgereport.com and prisonplanet.com, as “domestic extremists”.
The Department of Homeland Security has a history of engaging in such activity, and of course, it is well documented that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of entirely innocent Americans on the so called “no fly” list.
“The government should heed the very real complaints of countless Americans who object to the invasive new procedures and develop security measures that are safe, effective and respect civil liberties.” the ACLU’s Jay Stanley said.
“We must strive to be safe without abandoning our most sacred freedoms.” the senior analyst added.
According to the ACLU, recurring themes in the hundreds of reports they have received include:
• The searches are extremely invasive
• Many travelers are reporting intense feelings of violation and humiliation
• Some report being physically hurt by the searches
• Some feel their searches are punitive
• Reports of gawking by agents
• Reports of seemingly unnecessary repeated touching of intimate areas
• Many vow not to fly any more
• Any traveler may be forced to undergo one of these searches
This is the new America. The public fearing that they will be placed on a government database of subversives if they dare speak out over being zapped with ionizing radiation, photographed naked and aggressively groped by government agents, all in the name of protecting their liberties.
The only way such outright abuse of power will be halted is if the majority of Americans say no. A government watch list comprised of hundreds of million people is useless anyway. If the American people continue to hold their tongues, this tyranny will quickly expand beyond the airports and into everyday life.
If you have been on the receiving end of a TSA groping or have been forced through a naked body scanner, we implore you to file a complaint both with the ACLU here or here and with the TSA here.
Other ways to complain
Survey on the Spot is a third-party survey company that conducts feedback surveys for the TSA. Access the survey online or through an iPhone app. To submit a complaint, search for “TSA” in the text block. You will then select the TSA location closest to you. You will be asked, among other things, to:
• Rate the thoroughness of the passenger screening you received.
• Rate your confidence in the TSA’s ability to keep air travel secure.
• Be asked whether body-scan technology be used in passenger screening.
At the end of the survey, you will have a chance to submit a free text complaint. Note: It is unclear whether these responses are compiled with other complaints, so it is important that you fill out the TSA-designed complaint as well.
My TSA is an iPhone app produced by the Transportation Security Administration. Select “About” in the upper right-hand corner, then select “Provide Feedback to TSA.” You’ll be able to submit a free text complaint of up to 4,000 characters.
When you are at the airport, you have a right to complain to a supervisor at the security screening area. If you don’t want to speak to someone while going through security, you may also complain to one of the airport’s Customer Service Managers.
You can also submit a written complaint to:
Postal mail:
Transportation Security Administration
Office of Civil Rights and Liberties (TSA-6)
External Compliance Division
601 S. 12th Street
Arlington, VA 20598
You may also submit a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Email: civil.liberties@dhs.gov
Postal mail:
Department of Homeland Security
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
Review and Compliance
245 Murray Lane, SW
Building 410, Mail Stop #0190
Washington, DC 20528
Telephone:
Toll Free: 1-866-644-8360
Toll Free TTY: 1-866-644-8361
Fax: 202-401-4708
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is collecting incident reports about passenger experiences during airport security screening through an online form.
Let EFF Know
If you submitted a complaint to the TSA, the EFF asks that you forward a copy to toTSAComplaints@eff.org.
When you submit complaints to EFF, its lawyers will compare them to complaints EFF receives through Freedom of Information Act requests. The EFF states that it will not use a copy of your complaint for any other purpose without your prior permission. However, if you wish to allow the EFF to use your complaint for advocacy and public discussion purposes, you can give them permission when you submit the complaint.
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