Airport Scanners & Pregnancy
Once you get to the airport, the question often comes up about the scanners used in security checks.
There are basically three types of scanners. The hand-held types and some walk-through types use a magnetic field to detect metals. The magnet in the scanner is about one tenth the strength of a refrigerator magnet.
Other walk-through scanners use either radio waves or very low dose x-rays.
The older scanners, called backscatter scanners, still in use in some countries, are the ones that use the very low dose x-rays. Radiation doses can be expressed in millisieverts (mSv). It takes about 500 mSv to harm a developing baby. By comparison, backscatter scanners produce a radiation exposure of less than 0.001 mSv. This type of scanner has been largely replaced by radio wave types because of privacy concerns, not safety concerns.
The newer scanners bounce low dose radio waves to detect hidden objects. Radio waves are a form of electromagnetic energy similar to light but with much less energy. These, therefore, would be as safe as walking in the sunlight.