Airport security technology firms, perhaps seeing the bounty ahead if – as expected – governments around the world impose stricter checks on passengers, are questioning the performance of the controversial full body scanners.

One such company is Guardian Technologies International which backs claims in the UK media this week that the widely talked about scanners do not accurately detect low-density substances such as liquid and powder explosives.

Unsurprisingly the company has a product of its own to peddle, the PinPoint threat detection and identification system, but equally it raises an interesting point if the much lauded body scanners are unable to pick up the very materials that the recent alleged Northwest 253 bomber had on his possession.

Guardian Technologies has illustrated the differences between its own system and that of existing scanners with a series of images released this week.

The company also claims that the body scanners are also open to the frailties of human operation and decision-making – in other words, a non-mechanical system for detection cannot be as reliable as one which uses software and digital imaging to detect suspicious objects.

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