Airport scanners may make you feel embarrassed due to the revealing images that they produce, but at least they don’t cause cancer, according to a study.

The American College of Radiology cleared up concerns about the radiation exposure from new airport scanners. Air travelers needn’t worry about it. According to the radiology group, travelers would have to go through over thousand scans in a single year for the radiation to even compare to one chest X-ray. The group told WebMD, “The ACR is not aware of any evidence that either of the scanning technologies that the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) is considering would present significant biological effects for passengers screened.”

The radiation air travelers are exposed to with millimeter wave technology is not even as much as radiation energy that a cell phone emits; 10,000 times less to be exact. That number comes from TSA.

There are two types of scanning devices that are going to be used:

Millimeter wave technology – A 3-D image is created from two radio antennas that revolve around the body at amazingly high speeds using low-level radio waves. The image that is created resembles a blurry photo negative.

Backscatter technology – A two-sided image is created by using weak X-rays, which creates an image that resembles a chalk-like drawing.

The backscatter X-ray technology only exposes a traveler to an amount of radiation that is comparable to two short minutes of being on an airplane at 30,000 feet.

Airport scanners take photos or video of passengers as they walk through security.  They allow security personnel in another room to see if you are hiding anything under your clothing.  They have recently come under fire for fears that they may produce cancer causing radiation.  Some are also complaining that the images produced by the equipment are an invasion of privacy.