The new security control system installed at Manchester Airport does not need to undress or search passengers to see every detail hidden under their clothing. It is a controversial scanner that began operating yesterday in an experimental way, and that has been developed to quickly detect if someone is hiding explosives or weapons . But the sharpness of the X-ray system, which generates a 3D image, also shows details about the subject’s anatomy, such as breast augmentation prostheses, hidden piercings, and the contours of the buttocks and genitals.
The technology, developed by the company RapiScan Systems , has not been well received by travelers who have passed through the device in the last 24 hours. And all despite the fact that the airport spokesmen insist that the system is faster and more efficient, that the images do not have anything pornographic, and that they are destroyed immediately after being taken.
The scanners were tested in 2004 at airports in New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and London.
