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Airports step up screening
By CNN's Tammy Oaks
LONDON, England -- Developing technologies and scientific capabilities coupled with the September 11 terrorist attacks, anthrax and ricin scares, shoe bombs and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are changing the world's airports. Airline travel has been rattled to its core in the last couple of years triggering governments to increase security both at airports and on board airplanes. Since 2001, major airlines around the world have seen pilots carrying firearms, cockpit doors being reinforced, armed marshals patrolling flights, radiation pagers detecting radioactive material and infra-red technology detecting feverish travelers. And recently some countries are enforcing compulsory medical checks and enforced quarantines as they attempt to control the outbreak of SARS. Technology that once was used in special military operations now frequents the world's airports. Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and Seoul all have infra-red technology in place to screen travelers for fever, which can be an indicator that the passenger is infected with SARS. When a person passes the infra-red fever sensing system, colors appear on the TV-like monitor: a green or yellow image means a normal temperature while swathes of red indicate a high fever of at least 37.5 degrees Celsius and above. At a summit on Tuesday in Bangkok, the leaders of China, Hong Kong and 10 Southeast Asian nations agreed to the pre-departure and arrival screening of international travelers. Taiwan has also enforced a 10-day quarantine for visitors arriving from areas hit hard by SARS. Currently in Canada, health officials are stationed at the major airports to watch for symptoms in passengers arriving from SARS-infected countries. All international travelers also receive SARS information cards, which alerts them to early signs of the virus and provides them with healthcare contact telephone numbers. Israeli health authorities announced on Sunday that visitors from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada would have their temperatures taken on arrival at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion international airport. While SARS-infected countries are focusing on the health-detecting devices, other countries are centering on devices that can be used to ensure air travel is safe from terrorist activities. Airport scanners and biometric identifiers such as iris scans, digital fingerprinting and facial recognition may soon be seen in airports around the world. United States Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said on Tuesday those entering the U.S. will soon need to register with an electronic system that will record certain physical attributes, such as fingerprints or iris scans. The new entry-exit system is designed to help officials track when visitors enter and leave the country, helping immigration spot those who have stayed passed their visa expiration date. Great Britain also announced it would be testing new technology in an effort to expose those involved in terrorist activity. UK ministers said on Tuesday passengers would be subject to high tech screening machines designed to detect possible passport or travel document fraud. The passport scanners will instantly check travel document information against law enforcement and immigration databases in the UK. The system also checks passports for security features and tampering. Home Office minister Beverley Hughes told reporters: "This trial is the first step in a long-term programme to harness the latest technology to modernize and strengthen our border controls, creating a border security system fit for the 21st century. "In the future we will increasingly look to develop the use of biometrics and obtain more passenger information before people travel to the UK."
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