Think Body Scanning Is Dangerous? by Jack Swint-Publisher.
The most infamous, yet dangerous sales and marketing pitch of all times was orchestrated in the late 1940’s by corporate interests. And supported by our government.
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Can you imagine today, allowing a shoe salesman to x-ray your feet using a fluoroscope when buying a pair of shoes? Of course not! Well, that scam worked for over thirty plus years’ beginning in the 1940’s when manufacturers built and sold approx. 10,000 devices in the US. Americans trusted the reports that the devices were safe. All the while, they were unknowingly exposed to high doses of radiation.
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The crude wooden box device allowed salesmen to better fit your feet with new shoes using x-ray. The primary component of a shoe-fitting x-ray unit was the fluoroscope which consisted essentially of an x-ray tube mounted near the floor and wholly or partially enclosed in a shielded box and a fluorescent screen..
X-rays penetrated the shoes and feet and then struck the fluorescent light. This resulted in an image of the feet within the shoes. The fluorescent image was reflected to three viewing ports at the top of the cabinet, where the customer, the salesperson, and a third person (like your mother) could view the image at the same time.
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Another feature of the sales pitch was that it made it more fun for kids to go to the shoe store! “Doctor Scholl’s” was leading the pack on promoting and using these devices.
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This gimmick changed from decade to decade to suit the market at the time. But, one thing remained the same during the entire charade. The machines were often out of adjustment and were constructed so radiation leaked into the surrounding area. Finally, in the 1950’s, the danger of radiation from the fluoroscope was revealed and the machines in the US were exposed for their potential of possibly causing cancer and other health risks. But, it would be another twenty years before the government would place restrictions on the x-ray devices..
By 1970, shoe fitting x-ray units had been banned in 33 states and strict regulation in the remaining 17 states made their operation impractical.
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Note: Believe it or not, the very last shoe-fitting x-ray unit was found in 1981 in a department store in Madison, West Virginia. It was still being used in the store's shoe sales. The store manager wasn’t aware that it was against West Virginia law to operate the device.
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Now In 2010
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Are we now seeing a repeat of the same type sales pitch to Americans with the airport security body scanning? Is this an honest push for our security? Whatever the reasons, its making someone billions in profits. You Decide.
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Recently, the CEO of one of the only two companies licensed to sell full body scanners to the TSA, actually accompanied President Barack Obama to India, a clear sign of the deep ties between Washington politicians and the companies pushing to have body scanners installed at all US airports and abroad.
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In his best pictured smile yet to date, President Obama stands posing with Deepak Chopra, chairman and CEO of OSI Systems who is one of a number of CEOs who traveled with the president on his three-day trip to India. Chopra's company manufactures the “Rapiscan” brand of body scanners, currently being deployed across US airports. He joined the CEOs of such companies as GE, PepsiCo and United Technologies on the trip..
India decided earlier this year to implement body scanners at its airports, in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. India’s first experiment with body scanners was quickly scuttled in 2007 due to privacy concerns.
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The mere fact that Chopra even traveled alongside the US president on a foreign trip, shows the extent of the ties between the industry and the US government. With anger growing at the intrusive news screening procedures, many observers are also focusing attention on Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary whose consultancy, the Chertoff Group, counts OSI as a client. Rapiscan has already sold 150 full body scanners to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), with a price tag of $25 million.
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The original orders for body scanners were made in 2005, during the Bush administration when Chertoff was still head of Homeland Security. Chertoff stepped up his lobbying for body scanners late last year after the attempted Christmas Day bombing.
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What does the TSA and the federal government actually expect in positive results of the new body scanners? Does this technology replace and or allow TSA employee’s to become more relaxed and less diligent at their jobs feeling that the new high tech scanners can now do all of the work. The government claims that if the new body scanners were in place, the terrorist known as the underwear bomber would have been caught at the airport. Fact is, its been determined the scanners would not have picked up or stopped this terrorist.
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A German television program's demonstration of full body scanners revealed that the controversial security devices may be able to make out such intimate details as breast implants, but can fail to detect bomb-making components. In the TV broadcast, the scanner, which produces x-ray images so graphic it's been likened to “virtual strip-searching,” caught the person's cell phone and Swiss Army knife, but missed a variety of objects hidden around his person that could be used to create and detonate a bomb.
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The explosive device smuggled in the clothing of the Detroit bomb suspect would not have been detected by body-scanners set to be introduced in British airports, an expert on the technology warned. The claim severely undermines Gordon Brown's focus on hi-tech scanners for airline passengers as part of his review into airport security after the attempted attack on Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
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London media outlet, “The Independent,” reported that officials at the Department for Transport had already tested the scanners and were not persuaded that they would work comprehensively against terrorist threats to aviation.
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In closing... X-rays have been used for years in the medical profession to diagnose injuries, cancer, etc. But, your not going through a body scan at the airport (or having your feet checked for proper fitting) because your sick or injured!
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End Of Story....
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Jack Swint-Publisher
WV News
WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com
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(304) 319-4011
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OSI Systems, Inc
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