TSA: gee, do those scanners leak radiation?

  The TSA scanners are of great interest to us at this blog. 
  They should be for anyone who flys, considering the numerous concerns that have been reported about the possibility of radiation exposure, from both the backscatter and millimeter-wave scanners.
  One problem in dealing with the TSA is that they are arrogant and unyielding when outsiders question their procedures. No one gets in, no one gets out. In addition, the TSA has increasingly encroached in our lives in other forms of transportation such as bussing and even cars. That new branch is called the VIPR unit. 
  Imagine running those scanners, day after day. The sour face, the "alert" attitude that every passenger is a criminal, the authoritarian commands you get to give to everybody, who has to comply or be kicked out of the airport. Great job.
  But wouldn't you wonder if you were being exposed to radiation? Wouldn't you have doubts?
  So government does what it does best.
  Rather than FIX a problem by actually letting outside sources test their politically connected machines to verify their safety, they are going to test the scanner operators for radiation exposure.
  LA Times:

After years of rebuffing health concerns over airport scanners, the Transportation Security Administration plans to conduct new tests on the potential radiation exposure from the machines at more than 100 airports nationwide.
But the TSA does not plan to retest the machines or passengers. Instead, the agency plans to test its airport security officers to see if they are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation while working with the scanners.

  Once again, government does not seek the source of a problem. Instead, it throws money and bureaucracy at a symptom.
  Why do we have confidence that this, too, will not work.
  You can sign a petition here to stop the use of the scanners proposed by New Jersey legislators.