Naked body scanners set for installation at UK airports following green signal from EU

London, May 5 (ANI): 'Naked' body scanners could soon be installed at UK airports after the European Commission (EU) declared them safe.

The EU had last year stopped new trials of scanners after concerns that high levels of radiations could cause a risk to passengers' health.

However, a study conducted by the EU has found that the radiation risk from the scanners, which use X-rays to scan through clothes to produce images of passengers, is 'close to zero'.

However, the study also revealed that the long-terms effects of exposure to high radiations, such as cancer risks, could not be dismissed entirely.

The European Commission is now expected to approve the technology, and the scanners could be installed at UK and European airports.

'We've been waiting for this report which, in summary, says the scanners are safe, The Daily Mail quoted a Manchester Airport spokesman saying.

'We knew the report would say this because the UK and U.S. government had already carried out studies and concluded the same thing,' he added.

Extensive tests by the UK Health Protection Agency and US health authorities had already confirmed that the scanners did not pose any risk to health.

The scanners known as back scatter scanners have been trialed by Manchester Airport since 2009.

EU states have long been considering the use of security scanners ever since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 24-year-old Nigerian, attempted to blow up a plane with plastic explosives he had hidden in his underwear in 2009. (ANI)