SIR – How come Transport Secretary Justine Greening is urging all major airports – including Leeds-Bradford – to adopt ‘naked’ body scanners when the European Commission has stopped trials of them until a safety report is completed?

Passengers at Manchester Airport have been guinea pigs for the last two years despite fears about the machine’s potential health risks, and now even the EU is not convinced about their safety.

It was known from the start that some scientists fear the device could emit high levels of radiation, particularly dangerous for children, but nevertheless the go-ahead was given.

The EU is demanding more scientific evidence is gathered, yet our Government has obtained special dispensation for continued use of the device at Manchester and here we have Greening urging major operators to adopt this controversial system.

I know security is vital, but so is the health of passengers and at the very least anyone who does not want to go through such a machine should have the right to opt out and have an alternative thorough search.

While I believe that decisions affecting our citizens should be the province of our Government not bureaucrats in Brussels, when, as here, cancer fears are raised, the greatest caution must be exercised.

Godfrey Bloom, UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire