TSA Removing Full Body Scanners From Airports

The Transportation Security Administration will be removing the controversial full body scanners from major airports around the country, and replacing them with smaller, possibly safer machines, reported MSNBC today.

Aside from privacy issues, there also have been concerns about radiation from the full body machines. The new machines rely on radio waves similar to those of cell phones and display an animated image of the scanned person, rather than the revealing x-ray images the larger backscatter machines produce.

“If they can keep the same level of security then I have no issue with it,” one traveler told CBS New York. “But they have to get an alternative to make sure that the passengers and the airlines are secure.”

Already this month, the backscatters have been replaced at Boston Logan International Airport, John F. Kennedy and Laguardia airports in New York City, Chicago O’Hare, Orlando International and Los Angeles International.