The whole body airport scanner that reveals your underwear

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:52 AM on 01st April 2009

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Travellers in America are being asked to pass through whole body scanners at airport security checkpoints, which penetrates their clothing.

The new technology, developed by New York based L3 Communications, has raised concerns after it was revealed that underwear is visible in the scans.

It has drawn comparisons with scanners on the 1990 science fiction film Total Recall, which revealed the bodies of Mars-bound passengers beneath their clothing.

A composite of four separate scans, a female in the left two and a male in the right two. The scanner penetrates clothing

Passengers remove metal items, jackets and shoes and step into a small glass chamber.

Passengers lift their arms over their heads before the scan

Lifting their arms about their heads the sensors scan the body for about three seconds.

The sensors can detect part of the electromagnetic spectrum that emits energy from the body at wavelengths of one millimetre.

Because the energy from a human body is radiated at a higher rate than plastic, metal and ceramic, the unit can then reveal those objects.

The scan blurs out the face of the passenger, and the image is not stored.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union said the body scanning technology could be too intrusive as it could project images of mastectomies and catheter tubes.

The Transportation and Security Administration has placed the scanners in airports in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Miami, San Fransisco, Tulsa, Okla and Albuquerque, in a pilot program.

It is currently a voluntary system.

There are no plans to bring the scanners to the UK at this time.

A spokesman for the TSA said the new scanners were better for travellers with hip or knee replacements, as they are currently patted down if their prosthetic sets off a security alarm.

The new technology has drawn comparisons with that used in film Total Recall, where you could see skeletons beneath passengers' clothing

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