A DOCTOR who refused to go through the ‘naked’ body scanners at Manchester airport was banned from boarding his flight.

Tony Aguirre – a consultant eye specialist at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary – declined to go through the full-body scanner on both medical and ethical grounds.

But instead of being offered a ‘pat down’ search as an alternative, the father-of-two was escorted out of the airport by police and not allowed to board his flight to Zurich.

It is now mandatory for passengers to go through the full body scanners before boarding their flights at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow airports – staff there have been told that anyone who refuses should be grounded.

The X-ray device scans through a person’s clothes creating an image of a person’s naked body in order to look for hidden objects potentially hidden on their person.

Mr Aguirre told the Examiner he felt as if he was treated like a criminal just because he was not prepared to accept a “radiation assault” that is potentially dangerous to his health and undignified because it exposes his nude body.

The Fartown man said: “X-rays are known to cause cancer and I think somebody will get cancer from this body scanner whether it’s me or someone else.

“It is well known that X-rays can cause cancer. It can cause mutations in the genes in the spermatogenetic cells, as in most other cells.”

Recent studies have suggested that the ‘backscatter X-rays’ used at Manchester airport could produce 20 times as much radiation than first thought.

Mr Aguirre said: “The Government maintain it is just a ‘low dose’ of radiation but even if it is a ‘low dose’ – and not 20 times higher than first calculated – I don’t want it because it is unnecessary.

“If it was necessary then a greater case could be made by the Government but since it isn’t necessary I decline.”

Mr Aguirre, who is originally from Spain, said no-one should be forced to be viewed naked and it is demeaning and undignified.

He said: “You shouldn’t be forced to expose yourself and it raises moral issues and dignity issues.”

Mr Aguirre said in the United States people can exercise their right to “opt out” of a full body scan. He said: “This raises the suspicion that perhaps it’s more expensive to do a manual search and that’s why they are forced to go through an X-ray.”

Because he was grounded Mr Aguirre’s wife had to quickly book him another flight to Zurich. The consultant – flying to treat patients in Swizerland – had to take a flight from Liverpool where the scanners are not used and make a connection in Amsterdam. Easyjet in Manchester wouldn’t refund his £58.98 ticket.

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: “The safety and security of our passengers is our number one priority.

“The technology is fully approved by the Radiation Protection Board and the Health Protection Agency and since instructed by the UK Government in February 2010, is a mandatory part of the security process, which we will continue to inform our passengers of.

“We now have full body scanners at all three of our terminals and the majority of passengers rate the process to be an improvement on the traditional airport security ‘pat down’ check.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “A ‘no scan, no fly’ rule exists in the UK, meaning that if selected for screening, passengers do not have the option of a pat-down search and are escorted landside”.