Body Scans Hit The Airport
Preventive imaging technology was created for the purpose of improving the medical field. But this technology is now being used in new ways that having nothing at all to do with medicine. The Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix
recently became the first airport in what could be a series of them to adopt body scan technology for security purposes. This stirs up a lot of controversy amongst the public and brings up important issues of privacy. But it also speaks to the potential for imaging techniques to be used in new and important ways that may have been overlooked up until this time.
Much of the controversy coming from the use of
body scans at the airport is derived directly from the concern for individual privacy. Some of this controversy is linked to the fact that most people do not understand how the
total body scan works. They have concerns that the body scan is like the kind of X-ray imagery that you see on adolescent sitcoms, in which boys put on X-ray glasses and can see women's underwear through their clothes. Obviously, this isn't what the purpose of a body scan is.
Only time will tell whether body scans at the airport will end up becoming a part of the standard procedure. But this points towards a bigger trend that's worth paying some attention to. Medical technology, including the technology that is being used for all sorts of imaging scans, can be used in a variety of creative and innovative ways. As more people get access to exploring the use of this technology, possibilities will open up for a broad array of different fields.
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