This Presidential Report from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) has been prepared at the request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has the responsibility for regulating the manufacture of electronic products that emit ionizing and nonionizing radiation and is working with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which has the responsibility of providing security measures for transportation activities. The FDA asked the NCRP for advice on radiation protection issues concerning exposure to ionizing radiation from radiation-producing devices used for non-medical security purposes. These devices, particularly x-ray scanning systems, are being evaluated by various agencies (e.g., U.S. Customs Service and TSA) for use in security screening of humans. The use of such scanning devices involves a broad societal decision that needs to be made through appropriate procedures by the authorities utilizing the x-ray producing electronic products (and other types of ionizing radiation producing systems) as a security device for screening humans. This report provides an evaluation of radiation levels, radiation risk, and radiation protection measures that should be taken into consideration by implementing authorities. However, the NCRP cannot render an opinion of the net benefit of using these devices based on the ionizing radiation aspects alone.

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