Are airport metal detectors / scanners safe in pregnancy?
Yes. The security screening technologies used in U.S. and most international airports do not pose a known risk to pregnant women or fetuses.
- Walk-through metal detectors and hand-held wands use low-frequency electromagnetic fields and do not expose the traveler to ionizing radiation. Multiple studies show no measurable fetal hazard.
- Current TSA body scanners use millimeter-wave technology, which produces non-ionizing radiofrequency energy. These scanners do not use x-rays and do not increase fetal radiation exposure.
- Older “backscatter x-ray” systems (phased out of U.S. airports by 2013) delivered extremely small radiation doses. Even those doses were far below levels considered harmful in pregnancy. Travelers may always request a pat-down instead of screening.
1. Kainz W, et al. Induced current densities and SAR in pregnant women exposed to hand-held metal detectors. Phys Med Biol. 2003;48:2551–2560. PMID: 12953914
2. Wu D, et al. Exposure of pregnant women to walk-through metal detector emissions. Phys Med Biol. 2007;52:5735–48. PMID: 17881797
3. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Advanced Imaging Technology (millimeter wave) radiation safety documentation, DHS OIG-12-38 (2012).
4. ICRP Publication 84. “Pregnancy and medical irradiation.” ICRP Annals. 2002.