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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62F4W020100317
only 600 of more than 4 million air travelers had lodged objections -- an "infinitesimally small" 0.015 percent
This is a misleading statistic. I seriously doubt all 4 million air travelers were put through the full body scanners. A more meaningful statistic would be the percentage of all travelers subjected to the full body scanner who complained. There are only 21 airports with these scanners. To garner 600 complaints is a meaningful number. That's approximately 15 complaints per scanner - and considering that most people won't go through the process of filing a formal complaint (they'll gripe to their family and friends but not to officials), I consider that an unacceptably high number of complaints.
To call the radiation emitted by the scanners "quite de minimis" is to callously disregard those who must watch every roentgen - some laboratory scientists, cancer patients, people who've had radiatio sickness or come close to it (far more people than one would suppose).
That most of the complaintants were upset that they weren't given the option of a pat-down says there's something seriously amiss with the system.
To say the images are not stored is also a lie, as some have been released into the internet (no links, most of my links no longer work, meaning they've probably been moved and I'm not hunting them back down). Where did those come from if not from stored images? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano saysm "passengers overwhelmingly prefer them to the magnetometer" but I don't know who she's talking to; most of the people I know who have to fly often don't like it at all, partly because of the accummulative radiation exposure and partly because of the invasion of privacy.
I'd object to both, myself. And since I know I can choose a pat-down (which is offensive in its own right but at least not as offensive as the scans), I'd choose the pat-down every time. Since Obama did re-vamp the No-Fly List, there's a possibility I've been removed from it. I haven't tested it and chances are I probably won't for quite some time.