Aviation securityTungsten-lined undies protect naughty bits from radiation

Published 24 November 2010

A Colorado company offers an attractive line of tungsten-lined undies, aimed, the company says, to protect “the traveling public, airline, medical, and security professionals from radiation generated by security and medical imaging equipment”; business is booming

Men's briefs with tungsten radiation shielding // Source: wordpress.com

U.S. firm Rocky Flats Gear is doing good business trade in scanner-protecting underwear — an attractive range of intimate apparel which may protect a passenger’s private parts from radiation and the prying eyes of airport security operatives.

According to the company, the kit’s main aim is “protecting the traveling public, airline, medical, and security professionals from radiation generated by security and medical imaging equipment.” Colorado-based inventor Jeff Buske reckons demand for the tungsten-lined undies is a result of the “inevitable backlash” against the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) rapid roll-out of body scanners in the wake of the Xmas Day underpants bomber.

Lester Haines writes that the former designer of X-ray machines for General Electric is convinced the scanners are not safe, despite TSA claims, and told the Los Angeles Times that he “designed the undergarments with safety in mind.”

Some travelers may have a more immediate concern than exposure to radiation — exposure to TSA screeners and possibly to everyone who has an Internet connection.

Buske’s friend Lawrence Johnston, a fellow member of We Are Change, a “grassroots peace and social justice movement working to reveal the truth behind the events of September 11th, as well as the lies of the government and corporate elite who remain suspect in this crime,” summed it up with: “I don’t want pictures of my wife on the Internet.”

Buske’s cunning plan to stop TSA stripping citizens of their dignity has one major flaw, in that “if screeners can’t see what’s going on, they may have to take more physical measures.”

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez explained to the Los Angeles Times: “If there is an anomaly that needs to be resolved, a pat-down would occur.”