Airport security a waste of money: study
US researchers say there is no evidence that airport security make flying any safer.
A team at the Harvard School of Public Health could not find any studies showing whether the time-consuming process of X-raying carry-on luggage prevents hijackings or attacks.
They also found no evidence to suggest that making passengers take off their shoes and confiscating small items prevented any incidents.
The US Transportation Security Administration told research teams requesting information their need for quick new security measures trumped the usefulness of evaluating them, Eleni Linos, Elizabeth Linos, and Graham Colditz reported in the British Medical Journal.
"We noticed that new airport screening protocols were implemented immediately after news reports of terror threats," they wrote.
"Even without clear evidence of the accuracy of testing, the Transportation Security Administration defended its measures by reporting that more than 13 million prohibited items were intercepted in one year," the researchers added.
"Most of these illegal items were lighters."
- Reuters
ABC
Friday, December 21, 2007
Yes, but it does create jobs...
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My dad was able to get on a flight with a knife (he didn't realise and wasn't going to stab anyone). When he wanted to return home, they found it. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteI've been on planes where there has been metal cutlery... Everything is calssified as a weapon. One friend wanted to take his tripod onboard but couldn't becasue it's a weapon. Now, if some freak went crazy with a plastic fork and wanted to stab someone, the tripod could have been used to whack him/her over the head!
ReplyDeleteIt's a common story!One of our more outspoken government ministers pointed out that airlines only use plastic cutlery for "security" reasons, but you can kill a person with a pen as easily as with a table knife.Perhaps sanity will one day return!
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