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Fwd: Protecting Film from New X-Rays
Date: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 10:23:43 -0400
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From: Elke Bauer <eib2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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Subject: Protecting Film from New X-Rays
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When is a photograph most like a meal?
When it's toast.
The toaster in this case is the new CTX-5000 anti-explosive
scanning device manufactured by InVision Technologies of Newark,
California. It's the latest in a long line of necessary security
needed to keep the friendly skies friendly, installed in airports
to make sure that checked luggage is free of explosives.
It's also a bane on your undeveloped travel snaps.
How bad a bane? Ask British documentary filmmaker David Attenborough.
In early 1998 he was returning home with undeveloped BBC film of rare
birds in Papua New Guinea and his film ran through the CTX-5000 at the
Manchester, England, airport. All his work was damaged.
InVision was an early beneficiary of the 1990 Aviation Security
Improvement Act passed on the heels of the bombing of Pan Am Flight
103 over Scotland. Part of the bill directed the Federal Aviation
Administration to upgrade its explosives detection systems (EDS), in
part through research and development grants. The federal government
wanted something new and better than the traditional low-dose X-ray
scanners that have checked bags in the past.
InVision was founded with some of the R&D money and private
investment. Its CTX-5000 was the first device to win FAA certification
and was brought to market in 1994. In early 1998 In-Vision shipped its
100th CTX-5000. The machines are in use in 37 locations across the
United States, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
There's a debate over how effective and fast the CTX-5000 really is, but
that's a topic for another story. Today the topic is how the CTX-5000
ruins unexposed film -- totally -- and what you can do to avoid the
problem.
Cause and Effect
According to InVision, the CTX-5000 is based on the same technology
as computer tomography (CT) scanners used in internal medicine. The
machine first uses traditional X-ray radiography to find areas of
interest
inside checked luggage. Then a rotating X-ray system makes images
from a variety of angles. A computer processes these profiles to create
a single image for each area of interest. The digital CT values of each
object within the image can be compared against values for
explosives. When a threat is found, the CTX 5000 SP automatically
signals an alarm, visually isolates the threat and holds the bag so the
operator can examine it.
"Our systems even find explosives that are concealed inside
electronic
items such as tape recorders or sewn inside the lining of a bag,
explosives that wouldn't necessarily be found during a visual inspection
of bag contents," said company spokeswoman Linda Snyder.
The trouble for unsuspecting photographers is that when the high-dose
X-rays zero in on checked bags, the X-rays can react with chemicals
in film emulsion to fog the film. This is new. In the past, lower-dose
X-ray scanners had little impact on unprotected film.
The Photographic and Imaging Manufacturers Association (PIMA ) ran
tests with undeveloped film and the CTX-5000 a few years ago at
FAA's Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. Different brands of
film of varying speed were placed in luggage that was run through the
scanner 1-5 times. Some film was unprotected, some shielded in
common lead-lined bags available at photography stores. All the
unprotected film was damaged to a certain extent. Faster films (the
higher the ASA number on the film canister -- 100, 200, 400, 800 etc.
-- the higher the film speed) were damaged more heavily. Film in
protective bags fared a little better, with film rated 100 ASA sustaining
minor fogging.
PIMA executive vice president Tom Dufficy said that while, "the
safety
of passengers, pilots and crews is paramount... we want to make sure
that people know it's okay to take their film with them."
The problem is bad enough, and ignorance about the scanners is
broad enough, that a Chicago-based group called F-Stop has been
created to draw attention to the issue. F-Stop's members include
photo pros from Popular Photography, Photo District News, The New
York Post and National Geographic Traveler. Like PIMA, their site
displays photos damaged by the CTX-5000, and offers suggestions
about how to avoid the damage.
Does InVision ever get complaints from folks with fried film?
"Travelers
generally express gratitude to us for developing this technology,"
Snyder said. "We frequently hear from the public that the minor
inconvenience regarding undeveloped film is clearly offset by the
heightened security our systems bring."
What can you do?
InVision, PIMA, FAA and F-Stop, as well as major film manufacturers
like Kodak, Fuji and Ilford, all say the same thing: Keep all your
unexposed film in your carry-on luggage, and ask for it to be
hand-inspected if any of it is rated 100 ASA or higher. (At the moment
the CTX-5000 isn't used to check carry-on bags, but that might change
in the future.)
Internationally this may not always be possible, but it's your right in
the United States. FAA Regulation 108.17 , states in part that security
agents may not X-ray your bags, "unless a sign is posted in a
conspicuous place at the screening station and on the X-ray system
which notifies passengers that such items are being inspected by an
X-ray and advises them to remove all X-ray, scientific, and high-speed
film from carry-on and checked articles before inspection.... If
requested by passengers, their photographic equipment and film
packages shall be inspected without exposure to an X-ray system."
If you must put your film in checked luggage, double bag it in a couple
of those lead-lined film bags. The most popular model on the market is
made by Sima of Pennsylvania. The bags come in various weights,
including one tested and developed specifically to shield undeveloped
film from the CTX-5000.
Beware, however, that security scanner operators will get very curious
if they see a big, black impenetrable blob in the X-ray image of your
luggage.
"They may have to end up opening your bag," says FAA security
spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler, "and then try to track you down and
get you to where the bag is being inspected so you can answer
questions."
That's an inconvenience. Imagine having to ditch checking your voice
or e-mail right before a flight, or bailing from an important client
meeting at a club lounge, and having to trek into the bowels of an
airport to save your travel snapshots. Better to keep your film in your
carry-on bags, and have it hand inspected if possible.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Elke
Bauer
607-255-4284-B
Cornell Travel
Office
607-277-8819-F
American Express
Travel
EIB2@xxxxxxxxxxx
361 Pine Tree Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
http://www.cbs.cornell.edu/travel.html ;
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/elke/index.html ;