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December 20, 2006
Infants in Airport X-Ray Machines
As a very frequent traveler, this story is simultaneously appalling and unsurprising:A woman going through security at Los Angeles International Airport put her month-old grandson into a plastic bin intended for carry-on items and slid it into an X-ray machine.While the baby is okay, it turns out that this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, albeit not to that particular baby:
The early Saturday accident — bizarre but not unprecedented — caught airport workers by surprise, even though the security line was not busy at the time, officials said.
A screener watching the machine's monitor immediately noticed the outline of a baby and pulled the bin backward on the conveyor belt.
In 1988, an infant in a car seat went through an X-ray machine at LAX Terminal 4. Also that year, officials at Winnipeg International Airport in Canada accidentally sent a 2-month-old wrapped in blankets through an X-ray machine.
Of course, TSA officials are hard at work trying to figure out how to prevent infant x-ray-ing from happening, although it's tough to figure what to tell people if they're prone to putting babies in airport x-ray machines:"We're trying to figure out what changes we can make, short of putting up signs saying, 'Don't put your baby through the X-ray machine,' "...I like the idea of a picture of William Roentgen holding up his hand and saying "No babies", but maybe that's too obscure.
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I like the idea of a picture of William Roentgen holding up his hand and saying "No babies", but maybe that's too obscure.
Maybe not obscure so much as scary -- mean stare, big beard, Roentgen is clearly a terrorist, right?
Has anybody sued the TSA yet for not having such a notice in large letters available at security?
After all, people have sued for not being told explicitly that a freezer is not for putting your cat in on a hot day and a microwave is not for subsequent thawing.
You say: "As a very frequent traveler, this story is ..".
So you mean this story, er, travels often.
Sorry, irresistibly open flank!
Put up a sign saying "Babies don't like X-Rays and X-Ray Machines".
People would stop putting their babies in those machines. I am pretty sure everyone cares for their babies.
We're trying to figure out what changes we can make, short of putting up signs saying, 'Don't put your baby through the X-ray machine
What's wrong with putting up a sign?
I like the idea of a picture of William Roentgen holding up his hand and saying "No babies", but maybe that's too obscure.
I like that! I have a hard time seeing it put into use but ... why not!