January 01, 2005

Airports cutting back on ‘breast pat-downs’

The US government is doing something about those pat-downs by airport security that drew hundreds of complaints, mostly from females.

Government officials say 16 airports around the nation are testing new explosive-detecting equipment that could limit the need for more intrusive searches.

Among the complainers were Patricia Strum, reported CBSNews.com.

After she set off a metal detector, she got what she called a “breast exam.”

“While I’m standing there in the spread eagle position, she’s feeling my breasts, (and) she’s like, ‘What’s this?’” says Ms Sturm. “I’m like, ’That’s my breast. What do you think it is?’”

The pat-downs have since been restricted, but the government says its new equipment will make such hands-on searches obsolete.

One machine being tested at New York City’s JFK airport fires powerful shots of air and then sniffs the passenger’s body heat for traces of explosives. But that did not receive rave reviews, either.

“I had the feeling I was being fumigated,” CBS quoted one passenger as saying.

Report by David Wilkening



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