Answer to Question #4364 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

I am a baggage screener at a major US airport. I mainly work with the L3 machines. I was surprised to be diagnosed with cancer since I don't have a family history of this disease. Although all of the information I have read indicates the low dosage of radiation is not damaging, I am alarmed at the number of people at my location who have developed cancer while employed with TSA (Transportation Security Administration). On my shift of approximately 400 employees, I know of 12 cases of cancer. My question to you: If you have had cancer, are you putting yourself at risk of recurrence or of developing it elsewhere if you still work with these machines that emit even those low doses of radiation?

The direct answer to your question is that, because of the very low amount of radiation you might be receiving, it is not likely the radiation exposure puts you at any higher risk of recurrence.

The risk of cancer developing elsewhere in the body (the same type of cancer) is related more to the type of original cancer diagnosed. Was the cancer fast growing? Is it a type that is likely to have spread some cells elsewhere outside the original area? So even if the original cancer was removed, if some of the cancer cells migrated to other body locations, that is the likely cause of a recurrence (usually referred to as a metastasis). There are a lot of factors—gender, age, lifestyle.

You mention that 12 of 400 employees you work with have cancer. Without knowing their average age, that number is actually quite low. According to the American Cancer Society, the probability each of us has of getting cancer is 1 in 3. I know; it's amazing how high that is. So, of 400 employees, one might expect over 100 to eventually get cancer. But it is so random—one city might have a lot of cancers while a city only a few miles away has nearly none. It's random chance. But overall, the probability is 1 in 3. The rate of cancer deaths is about 1 in 4 to 1 in 5 (about 23%). Lung cancer deaths top the list. To have 12 cancers in 400 individuals wouldn't be considered unusual.

Kelly Classic
Certified Medical Health Physicist