Ind: Alarms in US airports set off by radioactive therapy

Alarms in US airports set off by radioactive therapy
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

The Independent (UK)
Published: 04 August 2006

A man who flew to Florida for a holiday with his family and friends had
a nasty shock at Orlando airport. He triggered an alarm, was taken
aside, strip-searched and checked by sniffer dogs while his companions
watched in horror.

After extensive questioning, when he realised the security guards
suspected him of carrying a radioactive bomb, the 46-year-old man
remembered his medical treatment for an overactive thyroid gland six
weeks earlier.

He was able to produce a medical card showing he had been treated with
radioactive iodine, an infusion of which is used to kill the overactive
cells in the thyroid. He was released.

Reporting the case in the British Medical Journal, doctors say 10,000
patients a year are treated with radioactive iodine in the UK alone and
as airport security alarms become more sensitive the likelihood of
false alarms will increase.

The man in Orlando, who has not been named, had passed through a UK
airport without setting off alarms, indicating the differing
sensitivity of alarms used in the two countries.

Dr Kalyan Gangopadhyay, of City Hospital, Birmingham, the lead author
of the report, said the case demonstrated how long radioactive iodine
can remain in the body.

"In Europe and America there will be hundreds of thousands of people
having this treatment. Airport security alarms are being made more
sensitive worldwide so we will get more of these incidents."

Dr Gangopadhyay said the man had been very distressed. "He said it was
embarrassing. He would not have made the journey if he had had an
inkling of the harassment he was likely to face. We could only
apologise to him for the lack of information given."

Earlier incidents have been recorded in the medical literature of
patients treated with radioactive isotopes setting off security alarms.
In the 1980s two visitors on a public tour of the White House set off
an alarm and were held until the cause was discovered.

In 2004, a 55-year-old pilot triggered an alarm at Moscow airport and
was detained until the cause was found. Four days later he set off the
alarm again.

The City Hospital in Birmingham is issuing cards to all patients
treated with radioactive iodine with a warning that airport alarms may
be triggered for up to 12 weeks.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...cle1212772.ece

wrote:
Alarms in US airports set off by radioactive therapy
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

The Independent (UK)
Published: 04 August 2006

A man who flew to Florida for a holiday with his family and friends had
a nasty shock at Orlando airport. He triggered an alarm, was taken
aside, strip-searched and checked by sniffer dogs while his companions
watched in horror.

The first hint of why very few people take British newspapers
seriously.

If you are stopped at an airport for *any* reason and they decide
you're going to be strip-searched for *any* reason your companions
don't get to watch, in horror or otherwise.

A man who flew to Florida for a holiday with his family and friends
had a nasty shock at Orlando airport. He triggered an alarm, was
taken aside, strip-searched and checked by sniffer dogs while his
companions watched in horror.

The first hint of why very few people take British newspapers
seriously.

If you are stopped at an airport for *any* reason and they decide
you're going to be strip-searched for *any* reason your companions
don't get to watch, in horror or otherwise.

It was the taking that caused them horror.

Then the author should have written the sentence correctly. As written
the reader is told that all of the actions were taken while his companions
watched. But even given a proper sentence, the situation remains
exaggerated. People watch in horror as someone is killed or tortured,
but they do not watch in horror just because someone is taken to a
private room. These people could have watched in shock or complete
amazement, but hardly in horror.


Pete

What a load of hooey THIS article is. At no point does the article describe
what type of alarm was activated. Radioactive
iodine will not set of the walk-through metal detectors, nor will it
activate a "puffer" type explosive detector. This article
is nothing more than Bravo Sierra.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Alarms in US airports set off by radioactive therapy
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

The Independent (UK)
Published: 04 August 2006

A man who flew to Florida for a holiday with his family and friends had
a nasty shock at Orlando airport. He triggered an alarm, was taken
aside, strip-searched and checked by sniffer dogs while his companions
watched in horror.

After extensive questioning, when he realised the security guards
suspected him of carrying a radioactive bomb, the 46-year-old man
remembered his medical treatment for an overactive thyroid gland six
weeks earlier.

He was able to produce a medical card showing he had been treated with
radioactive iodine, an infusion of which is used to kill the overactive
cells in the thyroid. He was released.

Reporting the case in the British Medical Journal, doctors say 10,000
patients a year are treated with radioactive iodine in the UK alone and
as airport security alarms become more sensitive the likelihood of
false alarms will increase.

The man in Orlando, who has not been named, had passed through a UK
airport without setting off alarms, indicating the differing
sensitivity of alarms used in the two countries.

Dr Kalyan Gangopadhyay, of City Hospital, Birmingham, the lead author
of the report, said the case demonstrated how long radioactive iodine
can remain in the body.

"In Europe and America there will be hundreds of thousands of people
having this treatment. Airport security alarms are being made more
sensitive worldwide so we will get more of these incidents."

Dr Gangopadhyay said the man had been very distressed. "He said it was
embarrassing. He would not have made the journey if he had had an
inkling of the harassment he was likely to face. We could only
apologise to him for the lack of information given."

Earlier incidents have been recorded in the medical literature of
patients treated with radioactive isotopes setting off security alarms.
In the 1980s two visitors on a public tour of the White House set off
an alarm and were held until the cause was discovered.

In 2004, a 55-year-old pilot triggered an alarm at Moscow airport and
was detained until the cause was found. Four days later he set off the
alarm again.

The City Hospital in Birmingham is issuing cards to all patients
treated with radioactive iodine with a warning that airport alarms may
be triggered for up to 12 weeks.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/hea...cle1212772.ece