TSA screening and PCa

Fairwind and Casey,

You are making this thread more and more political in nature by the minute, with your obvious biases, in clear violation of Rule 11.

Perhaps time for the moderators to lock this thread.

Keep it neutral.

David in SC

All sorts of medical problems are at risk from these 'searches' but if you've had cancer, any cancer....the added radiation is a huge risk IMO.

Even the scans we NEED are done at high levels of radiation and they cannot be avoided.

There's a huge difference, to me at least, between deciding to have radiation therapy and unnecessary 'extra' radiation from non-medical sources.

What about the poor guys/gals who've had cancer, yet must fly for business reasons?

How often can they subject themselves to 'extra' radiation without risking more cancer?

The whole 'security thing' is out of control, has not caught one bomber and needs rethinking, IMO.

Nobody is forcing us to fly.  We can take ground transportation if we find scanning intrusive.  But the way I look it at it is I'm thankful law enforcement agencies are thinking of ways to protect me and my country - and I will subject myself to the low-risk, low-level scans. 

The pilots union has got them exempted if they jump through the hoops. The public outcry has reached a fever pitch. Many are refusing to do it, people are being arrested..No terrorists have been found...

You know, the mentality of the response "you don't have to fly," really p*ss*s me off.

It's the same mentality the car companies used way back decades ago. They were the only game in town. The foreign cars were crappier than the US cars, and the service departments of the dealerships ripped people off left and right. Eventually, better cars were built abroad and that attitude came back to haunt the American auto companies.

Let's investigate the "don't have to fly" comment. Suppose enough people decide that they don't have to fly. Let's put it this way: I am very tempted to short the airline stocks!

All that being said, I am all for keeping us as safe as possible. But, at some point, the inconvenience becomes counter productive. I think we are there now. It is a very thin line to walk on. I hope the issue can be resolved where we have safety but can lesson the current inconvenience.

There are many who point out that we are accomplishing nothing with this security. I suspect we are accomplishing the aims. It is impossible to prove a negative. But I bet our security has thwarted many terrorist plots, a good percentage being those that never got hatched due to the heightened security.

I have a question: Israel's airlines have been noted as #1 in security. Do they utilize this kind of x-ray and search. (I honestly do not know the answer).

I realize this post is quite opinionated/political, but it is relevant since many of the aspects of the security procedures are particularly onerous to us PC patients who have to worry about radiation, wear pads, etc. 

Mel

Mel,
I've flown on El Al a few times. They use common sense profiling that we cannot do in the "good 'ole, one size fits all, PC" USA.
I won't say what they did, as this is a public forum. But I will say their methods are effective. They truly have the "if you don't like it, go flap your own wings," attitude.
Clearly they don't have to worry about being sued by the ACLU as no court would even consider a case.
I wish we could do the same.
Jeff

I didn't do the math on this, but very few of the comments on this thread seem appropriate or in any way consistent with Rule 11. 

Clearly the new airport procedures affect some of us who are dealing with PCa, who have had significant exposure to x-rays, or who have ostomies of various types.  But most of the comments have no connection with PCa at all. 

I got "Rule 11'd" last week for just slightly speaking up in defense of the US healthcare system.  How on earth has this thread not been terminated?

 

Ok, since acrimony is breaking out (did I spell that right) and the subject is just marginally related to the Forum, it's time to let this one die it's own peaceful death. So- Rule 11 violation. Let's leave the bickering, off topic discussions and such out of it and move on to another subject, hopefully one that won't devolve into this sort of 'discussion' again.

Yes, I know some of this is relevant to us but overall it doesn't fall into the support, etc. category. Explaining how to use common sense tips to make it thru the scans is one thing, but to keep up a thread that is only criticizing certain agencies is a clear violation of #11.

clocknut, the reason why this one wandered off is we can't always be around to 'nip it in the bud', as Barney would say, and it may be a while until someone wanders over. There's a lot more of you guys posting than there is of us reading every thread and every post. Also, I myself try to allow the widest possible latitude in these discussions, only stepping in when things are turning unfriendly or so obviously off the path for it to continue.

So unless someone comes along with concrete suggestions of a support or helpful nature of dealing with TSA inspections, this thread needs to die out now. You know the routine, "any further posts of an off topic or confrontational nature will be immediately deleted or edited without further warning"

Thanks to all.

James:

Guilty as charged.

Can I get a plea agreement \<g>

Mel

David:

Well-stated.

I didn't mind (well, I was willing to tolerate) the long lines, lengthy delays, and removing of shoes. It got very annoying when twice my elderly mother-in-law was stopped and had her baggage searched.

But this current situation is at a whole new level. I'm not a fan of everything the ACLU does (just much of it), but this would seem to cry out for such an organization to take action. But, maybe, the current public outcry will result in something a bit more palatable.

Mel

Highwayman, I've flown a number of times in the last two years, while wearing a pad/depends and have just been lucky enough to not be pulled out of line for the secondary check.

Like many others on this forum, I must wear and carry a spare pad or two. Esp on cross continent/overseas flights.

I tend to agree with John T., we just have to suck it up even if we don't like it/disagree with it.

My wife says she's done with flying and we're impecunious anyway.....so it's a moot point now.

they well might be before this mess is all over with, as so many civil and HIPPA rights are being violated

I found an interesting write-up in a scientist's blog about the potential radiation hazards from the new TSA body scanners. I HIGHLY recommend taking a few minutes to read this.

http://myhelicaltryst.blogspot.com/2010/11/tsa-x-ray-backscatter-body-scanner.html