Thirteen-year old Bella Griggs suffers from “Fanconi anemia, a chromosome breakage disorder that can lead to bone marrow problems and early cancer.” Indeed, “about 10 percent of people with Fanconi anemia develop leukemia. … Children who have Fanconi anemia and survive to adulthood are much more likely than others to develop cancerous solid tumors. The risk of solid tumors increases as people with Fanconi anemia get older.”
Accordingly, “Doctors have told [Bella] to avoid any unnecessary radiation,” her mother says.
Meanwhile,
[o]n Tuesday, the Griggs family began a cross-country journey to Maine [from Denver], to attend Camp Sunshine, a retreat for kids with life-threatening diseases, and their families. … [Mrs. Grigg requested] “that Bella be allowed to go through metal detectors, as opposed to a full-body scanner. I reiterated that [the scanner] could be detrimental to her health.”
Griggs said the [TSA] agent told her that if the daughter opted out of the full-body scan, she would be patted down.
Griggs … and her husband have always taught their kids that no one should touch them on private parts of their body, except a physician.
She asked to talk to a supervisor and said she was told that her daughter had three choices. She could go through the metal detector and be patted down, go through the full body scan or leave the airport and not go to camp.
Ah, yes: the TSA’s version of “choice.”
Poor Bella, faced with sexual assault or a dire threat to her health, “chose” the latter. And for nothing: “During the scan, there was an alert, so Bella ended up being patted down anyway.”
Ergo, to “protect” Bella from the incredibly remote possibility of terrorism, the TSA dramatically increased her high risk of developing cancer.
When will Americans revolt against this murderous and perverted agency? And by the way, all you craven passengers and pundits out there who excuse the TSA’s assaults on us because you’re scared of terrorism: when Bella dies young from leukemia, her blood is on your hands, too.
4:36 pm on June 23, 2017
