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Response by Department for Transport to D Willingham on 2 March 2010.
Request sent to Health and Safety Executive by D Willingham on 10 January 2010.
Follow up sent to Ministry of Defence by Paul Gaffney on 17 February 2010.
Full body scanners - safety of people being scanned
A Freedom of Information request to Department for Transport by John Walker
The request was partially successful.
John Walker
9 January 2010
Dear Department for Transport,
FOI request.
What studies has your department done into the safety (from the
point of view of the health of the people undergoing the scans) of
the full body scanners that are going to be introduced at airports?
Yours faithfully,
John Walker
FOI-ADVICE-TEAM-DFT
Department for Transport
11 January 2010
Dear Sir
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information which has been allocated the reference number P0006075. A response will be issued to you in due course.
Regards,
Department for Transport
Information Rights Unit
D/04, Ashdown House
Sedlescombe Road North
St Leonards on Sea
East Sussex
TN37 7GA
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Krishna Sompura
Department for Transport
14 January 2010
Mr Walker
Please find attached letter in response to your FOI request below.
Krishna Sompura
Research, Analysis and Development Team
TRANSEC
Department for Transport
5/12 Southside, 105 Victoria Street
London SW1E 6DT
Tel: 020 7944 3503
[mobile number]
[email address];
www.dft.gov.uk
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John Walker
1 February 2010
Dear Krishna Sompura,
This seems like a general reply regarding millimetre waves (aka
microwaves) & the dose of x-rays involved NOT from any studies
directly resulting from the actual scanning equipment. This
physical test should be done or data released before these are
allowed to be used on the general public.
1. Please supply the sources of the risk assessments.
2. What are the reference numbers, dates, departments etc
responsible for the reports?
Yours sincerely,
John Walker
D Willingham left an annotation (2 February 2010)
Are they allowed to lie in response to a FOI request? There is a paper published by LANL & Harvard Medical School called "DNA Breathing Dynamics in the Presence of a Terahertz Field" which suggests that THz waves can cause DNA damage.
Ken Greyson left an annotation (4 February 2010)
Details of THz safety:
The terahertz region is between the radio frequency region and the optical region generally associated with lasers. Both the IEEE RF safety standard[6] and the ANSI Laser safety standard[7] have limits into the terahertz region, but both safety limits are based on extrapolation. It is expected that effects on tissues are thermal in nature and, therefore, predictable by conventional thermal models. Research is underway to collect data to populate this region of the spectrum and validate safety limits.
In October 2009, a possible mechanism of DNA damage from terahertz radiation was proposed, according to which resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication.[8] However, the predicted DNA unzipping has not been verified experimentally.
In other words no safety limits of millimetre waves has yet been established but these are being forced through in airports with no pat-down alternative for the general public.
Steven May
Department for Transport
2 March 2010
John Walker
whatdotheyknow.com
Our reference: F0006155
Dear Mr Walker
I am writing to confirm that the Department for Transport has now
completed its search for the information which you requested on 1 February
2010.
In reference to your request:
`This seems like a general reply regarding millimetre waves (aka
microwaves) & the dose of x-rays involved NOT from any studies directly
resulting from the actual scanning equipment. This physical test should be
done or data released before these are allowed to be used on the general
public.
1. Please supply the sources of the risk assessments.
2. What are the reference numbers, dates, departments etc responsible for
the reports?'
The Health Protection Agency's independent Assessment of comparative
ionising radiation doses from the use of rapiscan secure 1000 x-ray
backscatter body scanner machine show the risk to be negligible in
comparison to the background radiation dose received from naturally
occurring radiation. The report is available via the Department for
Transport's website:
[1]http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/security/aviat...
The Health Protection Agency ([2]www.hpa.org.uk) produced this report. The
Department for Transport does not hold any further information regarding
reference numbers, dates, departments etc.
If you are unhappy with the way the Department has handled your request or
with the decisions made in relation to your request you may complain
within two calendar months of the date of this letter by writing to the
Department's Information Rights Unit at:
Zone D/04
Ashdown House
Sedlescombe Road North
Hastings
East Sussex TN37 7GA
E-mail: [email address]
Please see attached details of DfT's complaints procedure and your right
to complain to the Information Commissioner.from [department] you may ask
for an internal review. You should contact [name of official and address]
if you wish to complain
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Your right to complain to DfT and the Information Commissioner
You have the right to complain within two calendar months of the date of
this letter about the way in which your request for information was
handled and/or about the decision not to disclose all or part of the
information requested. In addition a complaint can be made that DfT has
not complied with its FOI publication scheme.
Your complaint will be acknowledged and you will be advised of a target
date by which to expect a response. Initially your complaint will be
re-considered by the official who dealt with your request for information.
If, after careful consideration, that official decides that his/her
decision was correct, your complaint will automatically be referred to a
senior independent official who will conduct a further review. You will be
advised of the outcome of your complaint and if a decision is taken to
disclose information originally withheld this will be done as soon as
possible.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
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Dave Hodges left an annotation (1 February 2010)
This seems like a general reply regarding millimetre waves (aka microwaves) & the dose of x-rays involved NOT from any studies directly resulting from the actual scanning equipment. This physical test should be done or data released before these are allowed to be used on the general public.
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