Question

1. In a mythical future world, Future Tech Corporation has developed full body scanners which are capable of detecting hidden weapons. The Future Tech Corporation scanners employ “zeta”-rays, based on dark matter. These “zeta” ray scanners can detect weapons while the person is standing in line. Consider the following:
   • Suppose that zeta scanners are judged to be “reasonably” safe, and assume it is known they will cause four excess cancers per year per million people scanned. Suppose there are 200 million fliers per year. How many excess cancers can we expect worldwide per year?
   • Suppose that these scanners are 100% effective at preventing concealed weapons from being carried onto airplanes but cause this rate of excess cancer. Assuming there are 200 people per airplane, how many airplanes full of people are equivalent to the number of excess cancers? For example, if you found there were 200 cancers per year that would be 1 airplane.
   • Now consider the rate of hijackings of planes. How many planes have been hijacked since 2001?

Use your answers to the above questions to write an argumentative paragraph on whether or not body scanners are worth the risk. Marking Criteria: 3 marks for your calculations and 7 marks for the paragraph based on the numbers you have calculated.

Answer 1