Quote:
Originally Posted by MSD
I'll give you the privacy violations, but these scanners use non-ionizing radiation and therefore cannot contribute to cancer risks.
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I'll grant you the lack of non-ionizing radiation. However, ionizing radiation is not the only form of radiation that contributes to cancer. ELF fields (extremely low frequency) can also be bio-active, including possibly carcinogenic. The WHO classes ELF magnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic (group 2B).
With ELF radiation, a lot depends on intensity and frequency. Unfortunately, one of the particularly frequencies that has been shown to be bio-active is around 60 Hz... the frequency of AC electricity in North America. A known effect of 60 Hz ELF radiation is an increase in vacuole occurrence in cells. While not carcinogenic, it is an effect. There may be others. Suspected links to Parkinson's disease and other degenerative neurological disorders have never been proven, nor conclusively dis-proven, which is of course much harder to do.
With that in mind, airport scanners may (probably don't) have some as yet undocumented effects, which may result in problems later on.