Implant Sciences [IMSC] has made its first sale of its handheld Quantum Sniffer QS-H150 explosives trace detector into Germany for air cargo security. The detector was sold by Implant’s German-based distributor, D-TeC System Consulting GmbH to First Class Zollservice, who plans to provide the QS-H150 on a fee-per-piece basis to air freight forwarders.
The European Commission last week adopted a proposal for a European Union legal framework that creates a common framework for using whole body imagers, known in the U.S. as Advanced Imaging Technology. “It is still for each Member State or airport to decide to decide whether or not to deploy security scanners, but these new rules ensure that where this new technology is used it will be covered by EU-wide standards on detection capability as well as strict safeguards to protect health and fundamental rights,” says EC Vice President Siim Kalas, who is the commissioner responsible for transport. The new rules include provisions similar to those in the U.S. such as the scanners may not store or print images and the person reviewing the images must be in a remote location. Passengers also may opt-out of the scan in favor of an alternative screening method. The EC decision also adds to the list of authorized methods for passenger screening at EU airports security scanners that do not use X-Ray technology. That means machines that employ active and passive millimeter wave technology are allowed. As for X-Ray-based technology such as backscatter security scanners made by OSI Systems [OSIS], an industry official says that contrary to some press reports, the EC decision does not mean these systems are banned. Indeed, two airports in Britain are using security scanners made by OSI’s Rapiscan division. Rather, the official points to a study authorized in September and due in March 2012 by the EC’s Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks that is investigating the potential health risks of the X-Ray security scanners as likely deciding the fate of X-Ray-based security scanners for use in Europe.