Backscatter x-ray machines "tear apart DNA"

Muslim woman refuses body scan at airport

source: _http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7048576.ece

From Times Online
March 3, 2010
Muslim woman refuses body scan at airport
Will Pavia

A Muslim woman was barred from boarding a flight after she refused to undergo a full body scan for religious reasons.

The passenger was passing through security at Manchester Airport when she was selected at random for a full-body scanner.

She was warned that she would be stopped from boarding the plane but she decided to forfeit her ticket to Pakistan rather than submit to the scan. Her female travelling companion also declined to step into the scanner, citing “medical reasons” for her refusal.

The two women are thought to be the first passengers to refuse to submit to scanning by the machines, which have provoked controversy among human rights groups.

They were introduced on a limited basis last month at Heathrow and Manchester airports in response to the alleged attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a jet over Detroit on Christmas Day using explosives concealed in his underpants.

The X-ray machines allow security officials to check for concealed weapons but they also afford clear outlines of passengers’ genitals. They are due to be introduced in all airports by the end of the year.

Civil liberties campaigners have said the scans represent an invasion of privacy and their introduction may yet be challenged by the Human Rights Commission.

Trevor Phillips, head of the commission, has told Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, that there are concerns over passengers’ privacy and an apparent lack of safeguards to ensure that the scanners are used without discrimination.

Sources at Manchester Airport have said the two women were due to board a flight two weeks ago when they were turned back at security.

No other passengers had objected to the checks and about 15,000 have so far submitted to the piercing eye of the £80,000 Rapiscan machine at the airport’s Terminal 2.

The second female passenger was said to be concerned because she had an infection. They may be the first to be turned back for their refusal to be scanned, though a spokesman for Heathrow said it could not comment on individual cases.

At Manchester, a spokeswoman said: “Two female passengers who were booked to fly out of Terminal Two refused to be scanned for medical and religious reasons.

“In accordance with the government directive on scanners, they were not permitted to fly. Body scanning is a big change for customers who are selected under the new rules and we are aware that privacy concerns are on our customers’ minds, which is why we have put strict procedures to reassure them that their privacy will be protected.”

Last month, Lord Adonis stressed that an interim code of practice on the use of body scanners stipulated that passengers would not be selected “on the basis of personal characteristics”.

He said that images captured by body scanners would be immediately deleted after the passenger had gone through and that security staff were appropriately trained and supervised.

Objectors to the scanners, and indeed the two women who forfeited their flight last month, have an unlikely ally in Pope Benedict XVI, a man who is likely to be waved through airport security for the rest of his life.

Last month he told an audience from the aerospace industry that, notwithstanding the threat from terrorism, “the primary asset to be safeguarded and treasured is the person, in his or her integrity”.

In this case going through the scanner was definitely not optional, neither by using the religious argument nor the medical one. It remains a question to me what exactly the goal is for deploying those devices. The links to dna unzipping and possibly to vaccines are interesting. And it fits into the bigger ptb plan of restricting travel as well.
 
I wanted to update this thread, as I recently noticed a large fishtank with selected passengers undergoing
backscatter x-ray strip searches in the Portland, Oregon International Airport. They were in the glass enclosure for several minutes. Lewrockwell.com has been publishing first hand accounts of passenger experience with this invasive and dangerous screening procedure. The following article and others can be viewed by using the search function at lewrockwell.com. I have read some of the articles and to opt out, you must clearly state I OPT OUT. The TSA personel will then shout that they have an opt out, and you will be given the enhanced pat down search option if you want to board the plane. I am going to opt out of the x-ray for the enhanced feel up if I get select for irradiation. :scared:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/airport-body-scanners.html
 
go2 said:
I have read some of the articles and to opt out, you must clearly state I OPT OUT. The TSA personel will then shout that they have an opt out, and you will be given the enhanced pat down search option if you want to board the plane. I am going to opt out of the x-ray for the enhanced feel up if I get select for irradiation. :scared:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rep/airport-body-scanners.html

Thanks, go2.
 
It looks like the TSA is starting to get pushback from sexually abused flyers. "They actually make contact with the genital area", has finally triggered the instinctive-motor centers predator detection function. Its about time. The pychopathic intrusion into our lives knows no bounds. Its time to say, "NO, GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME."

I have had a few moles removed and will opt out of the backscatter x-ray search. The flyertalk post has some tips on how to respond to this Catch-22. The link provided in the flyertalk quote isn't working and the TSA website says the pat-down search is included.

http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/faqs.shtm said:
Q. Is imaging technology optional?
A. Yes, imaging technology screening is optional for all passengers. Passengers who do not wish to receive imagining technology screening will receive alternative screening, including a physical pat-down.

So, it isn't clear.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security/988004-enhanced-patdown-video-escalation-procedure.html said:
Here you can see a video of the so called enhanced pat down:
http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/...d_patdown.shtm

It explains that it will be used only if other detection methods fail to resolve the alarm and that the passenger will be given the opportunity to take off things that might have triggered the alarm. (Leave the Prince Alberts out when flying).

This is a very important thing to know. As we all know the TSA they will abuse those who don't know that the enhanced pat down is ONLY to be used if other methods fail. So if you refuse the scanner, they have to give you the normal detector first. If the scanner alarms you can empty your pockets or whatever. If it still alarms you get the wand. If the wand still alarms you can check where it alarmed and search there for that forgotten coin. If it still alarms you get the NORMAL pat down. If they still don't find anything you get the sexual harassment also called "enhanced pat down".

This is not explained in such detail on their website. But it is the logical consequence of the sentence:
"Prior to conducting this pat-down, all other means of detection will be exhausted, including the walk through metal detector, interaction with behavior detection officers, hand-held metal detector and other less invasive pat-down searches."

I know I will print that page out and present it to them. I will make it clear to them that their hands stay off my groin unless there is an alarm that cannot be resolved with other detection methods.

Till

P.S.: If you have a mac and cannot play the video because it is a WMV file only (law suit?), download Flip4mac. That should do the trick.

Edit: here is another article on sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/217621-World-s-largest-pilot-union-shuns-full-body-scanners
 
Meanwhile:

Flight attendants union upset over new invasive pat-down procedures
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/217657-Flight-attendants-union-upset-over-new-invasive-pat-down-procedures

and
Meg McLain Singled out by the TSA, Cuffed to a Chair, Her Ticket Ripped up
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/217656-Meg-McLain-Singled-out-by-the-TSA-Cuffed-to-a-Chair-Her-Ticket-Ripped-up
 
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