US to remove controversial X-ray scanners

(AP) - Airport scanners with their all-too revealing body images will soon be going away, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said Friday.

The scanners that used a low-dose X-ray will be gone by June because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues, the TSA said. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying.

The government rapidly stepped up its use of body scanners after a man snuck explosives onto a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas day in 2009.

At first, both types of scanners showed travellers naked. The idea was that security workers could spot both metallic objects like guns as well as non-metallic items such as plastic explosives. The scanners also showed every other detail of the passenger's body, too.