French president orders study of possible use of body scanners at airports
By APWednesday, January 6, 2010
French president orders study of body scanners
PARIS — France’s interior minister says President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered a study of the possible use of full body scanners at airports amid growing worldwide security concerns.
Brice Hortefeux says a working group is to draw up a study and recommendations within a month.
He says France has stepped up airport security with initiatives like body-frisking of U.S.-bound passengers since Christmas — the day a Nigerian man tried but failed to set off explosives in a Detroit-bound jetliner.
Hortefeux told Europe-1 radio Wednesday that Sarkozy ordered the study on scanners a day earlier at a meeting on airport security.
French lawmakers discussed the use of scanners in 2008, but the idea was dropped over privacy concerns.
