Why does airport keep scanning

If you were a TSA agent and saw a bag of white powder show up in someone's luggage, what would you think? S pices, herbs, and other powdered ingredients are common souvenirs, so if you're taking any home, do yourself a favor and send your stash through separately so the agents don't have to unpack everything you own to ensure you're more of a Julia Child than a Pablo Escobar.

It doesn't matter if the object is clearly a toy: The TSA recommends keeping it in your checked luggage. The agency's list of prohibited carry-on items explicitly bans foam toy swords from carry-on luggage, along with water guns even if emptied to meet liquid requirements and forms of Nerf weaponry.

In there were some hilarious reports of passengers being forbidden to fly with empty souvenir Coca-Cola bottles from Disney World's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge simply because they kind of looked like the bombs favored by cartoon characters such as Wile E. Coyote and Bullwinkle antagonists Boris and Natasha.

Strangely enough, the TSA does permit light sabers —perhaps because they're science fiction? As with most items on this list, the soda containers weren't banned because they were truly dangerous but because they could cause uncertainty—either with the scanning equipment or, potentially, with the flight crew later on. So when you pack, it helps to think in those terms: What could cause confusion, or what might the machines have trouble scanning? If you have questions about other stuff, from Geiger counters fine to glow sticks nope—they're liquids , the TSA's official, searchable "What Can I Bring?

Thank you for subscribing! Got it! TSA's occupational safety and health professionals adhere to specifications that meet the FDA requirements for screening equipment. They test the equipment when it is set up and may bring in outside specialists to test it as needed. In addition, TSA maintains the equipment and keeps it in good working order.

At least once a year, the equipment is tested to make sure it meets federal, state and sometimes local safety standards. Travel Tips: Advanced imaging technology This video provides an overview of airport security scanners and their safety. The FDA requires that all machines be correctly calibrated and maintained.

Their rules apply to all x-ray equipment at airports as well as medical equipment and other uses of radiation-emitting equipment. The HPS is a group of scientists that research and make recommendations about ionizing and non-ionizing radiation topics. They also produce informational reports, fact sheets, and websites to help people better understand radiation.

The Society is established in the United States as an independent nonprofit scientific organization, and is not affiliated with any government, industrial organization or private entity. Pregnancy and Security Screenings This webpage addresses concerns regarding the use of airport security scanners while pregnant. Skip to main content. Contact Us. Gatwick, for instance, prides itself on keeping queue time in security under five minutes, thanks to facial recognition technology.

And intelligence gathering. Will superior scanners and better biometrics make flying safer? Credit: Getty Images. Some airports are using behavioural analytics to spot potential criminals, with algorithms sifting through security camera footage in real-time, trying to identify unusual behaviour.

With superior scanners, better biometrics and smarter systems for queuing, airport security may indeed get that little bit less annoying. Journey: Upgraded Aircraft. The new tech changing airport security. Share using Email. By Katia Moskvitch 19th May Queuing to be searched at the airport is a major downside of going on holiday. What is the airline industry doing to improve it? Katia Moskvitch investigates.

Otis Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, takes a pat-down instead of going through a scanner when he travels. He says he's concerned about whether the machines are calibrated and inspected properly. Len Lichtenfeld wrote to me in an e-mail. Lichtenfeld says it doesn't necessarily give him great comfort that the TSA says the scans are safe.

At first I thought Lichtenfeld was making this up, but you can actually see one of these foot scanners at the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices at the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Another doctor who opts for the pat-down is Dr. Dong Kim, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' neurosurgeon. Doctors exposed to radiation at work are particularly sensitive to this issue, as I learned when I got through security that day in the airport and chased after the doctor who'd opted out. I learned his name is Dr. Karl Bilimoria, and he's a surgical oncology fellow at M. He says this is a frequent topic of discussion among his colleagues.