The Electronic
Privacy Information Center released documents claiming that full-body airport
scanners caused "cancer clusters" among TSA workers who operated the
machines in Atlanta and Boston.
According to the
documents, emails sent to the Department of Homeland Security claimed that
Transportation Security Administration employees at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International
Airport were "falling victim to various forms of cancer, strokes and heart
disease," and that workers were "concerned about radiation levels
[they were] being exposed to on a daily basis." Similarly, supervisors at
Boston Logan International Airport in emails to DHS claimed that a "growing
number of transportation security officers have thus far been diagnosed with
cancer."
EPIC obtained the
documents through a Freedom of Information Act Request resulting from its ongoing
lawsuit on the legality of such scanners.
The organization
claimed that TSA "failed to issue employees dosimeters—safety devices that
would warn of radiation exposure" and that DHS "publicly
mischaracterized" the safety of the body scanners.