Full body scanners in French airports
Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports will be the first to experiment, after failed airline bomb plot on Christmas Day
FRENCH airports are to begin a trial into full body scanners in the wake of a failed bomb plot on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.
Nicolas Sarkozy has asked the Interior Ministry to draw up with a plan within a month looking at exactly how the technology can be introduced.
Civil aviation body DGAC said it would begin trials into the scanners "as quickly as possible" - starting at the two major Paris airports, Charles de Gaulle and Orly.
The United States has had full body scanners in some of its airports since 2002. They use extremely high frequency radio waves to accurately map the contours of the body, and it is claimed they are more effective at detecting hidden items than a manual search by a security agent.
The Netherlands announced it was buying 60 scanners on Monday and the UK, Germany and Italy are also starting trials. Each unit costs beween €100,000 and €150,000.
Some civil rights groups argue that the technology is a breach of privacy and human dignity and the European Commission is expected to develop a consensus on this in the coming months.
Socialist MP Delphine Batho said the issue of full body scanners needed to be debated in parliament as soon as possible.
Police presence at French airports has been stepped up since December 25, when a man attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane flying from Amsterdam to Detroit.
The Interior Ministry has already unveiled extra measures that it says will protect passengers.
Airlines will be required to take a passport number and place and date of birth from travellers at the time of booking, whereas some companies currently do not require this until check-in. This data will be better shared between countries and airlines will be fined if they fail to keep adequate records.
