Scan or Grope?

[glatt]

Thanks Beest. I appreciate your pulling this information together. I didn't understand that the term "effective" dose meant that they were already taking into consideration the different tissues being irradiated vs. the entire body.

I'm more receptive to information from the FDA than the TSA, although they still aren't my ideal of a trusted authority. But I skimmed the report you linked and saw that Johns Hopkins had also reviewed one of these scanners, and I went to their report too:
http://www.tsa.gov/assets/pdf/jh_apl_v2.pdf

It says basically the same thing. So I guess I trust that these are basically safe. It's better to limit exposure to radiation where you can, but at the same time, the scanner is a lot more convenient than getting groped. I think after skimming the FDA report and the John's Hopkins report, I'd probably choose the scanner after all.