Germany May Use Body Scanners at Airports, Sueddeutsche Says

By Rainer Buergin
Bloomberg
Dec. 30, 2009

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Germany may use next-generation body scanners at airports, devices that invade passengers’ privacy less than experimental scanners in use today, Sueddeutsche Zeitung cited Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere as saying.

Scanners that show genitals, implants or prostheses to security staff would be unacceptable. Devices under development that give a blurred picture of body contours while still showing dangerous objects would be tolerable as long as they pose no threat to passengers’ health, de Maiziere told the newspaper.

Members of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition are not opposed to the new technology while the opposition Green party rejects body scanners, the newspaper said. The northern German city of Luebeck hosts one of four European research centers that work on body scanners, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rainer Buergin in Berlin at [email protected].