An eye consultant was barred from boarding a flight at Manchester airport after refusing to go through a body scanner in case if gave him a dangerous dose of radiation.
Tony Aguirre said he was not prepared to take the risk of going through the scanner as it was potentially dangerous to his health Photo: HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER
Tony Aguirre a specialist at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary declined to go through the full-body scanner on both medical and ethical grounds.
But instead of being offered a pat down search as an alternative, the father-of-two was escorted out of the airport by police and not allowed to board his flight to Zurich.
It is now mandatory for passengers to go through the full body scanners before boarding their flights at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow airports staff there have been told that anyone who refuses should be grounded.
The X-ray device scans through a persons clothes creating an image of a persons naked body in order to look for hidden objects potentially hidden on their person.
But Mr Aguirre said he was not prepared to take the risk of going through the scanner as it was potentially dangerous to his health. He also said it was undignified to expose his nude body.
"X-rays are known to cause cancer and I think somebody will get cancer from this body scanner whether its me or someone else," said Mr Aguirre. "It is well known that X-rays can cause cancer. It can cause mutations in the genes in the spermatogenetic cells, as in most other cells.
Recent studies have suggested that the X-rays used at Manchester airport could produce 20 times as much radiation than first thought.
Mr Aguirre, who is originally from Spain, said no-one should be forced to be viewed naked and it is demeaning and undignified.
"You shouldn't be forced to expose yourself and it raises moral issues and dignity issues," he argued.
Mr Aguirre said in the United States people can exercise their right to opt out of a full body scan. He said: "This raises the suspicion that perhaps its more expensive to do a manual search and that's why they are forced to go through an X-ray."
Because he was grounded Mr Aguirres wife had to quickly book him another flight to Zurich. The consultant flying to treat patients in Swizerland had to take a flight from Liverpool where the scanners are not used and make a connection in Amsterdam.
Easyjet in Manchester wouldn't refund his £58.98 ticket.
A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "The safety and security of our passengers is our number one priority."
"The technology is fully approved by the Radiation Protection Board and the Health Protection Agency and since instructed by the UK Government in February 2010, is a mandatory part of the security process, which we will continue to inform our passengers of.
"We now have full body scanners at all three of our terminals and the majority of passengers rate the process to be an improvement on the traditional airport security pat down check."
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "A no scan, no fly rule exists in the UK, meaning that if selected for screening, passengers do not have the option of a pat-down search and are escorted landside."
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