THE use of new see-through security scanners on passengers at Manchester Airport is appalling. The full-body scans, unveiled earlier this month in Terminal 2, are aimed at revealing hidden weapons or explosives, but will also show up breast enlargements,

THE use of new see-through security scanners on passengers at Manchester Airport is appalling.

The full-body scans, unveiled earlier this month in Terminal 2, are aimed at revealing hidden weapons or explosives, but will also show up breast enlargements, body piercings and a clear black-and-white outline of passengers' genitals.

Their use is apparently being employed to take away the hassle of passengers having to take their coats, shoes and belts off during conventional security checks. But who really minds the bother of having to remove outer garments? It's a necessary evil which has been in place for many years and which passengers are largely accepting of.

At a cost of �80,000 each, the scanners are a waste of money as well as a breach of human rights and the right to privacy.

Scans have already been temporarily stopped for young people while legal advice is sought after a civil rights group asserted that it could breach laws protecting children.

And, while the airport has made assurances that the images produced by the scanners are destroyed straightaway, there are so many instances of confidential data being lost by companies in recent years that it makes me nervous.

There is also the matter of passengers being subjected to radiation when they are scanned.

It wouldn't surprise me if people began boycotting the airport to avoid the needless checks.

The Department for Transport will decide whether to install the scanners permanently in about a year's time. Let's hope they realise they are unnecessary, and unacceptably intrusive.