Bermuda’s authorities have “no intention” of installing controversial full-body scanners such as those at US airports.Collector of Customs Winniefred Fostine-DeSilva said her department uses radiation-free technology instead to find contraband hidden on persons.The TeraHertz technology, made by UK-based company ThruVision, does not show personal body parts, unlike the controversial Rapiscan X-ray machines used at many US airports.Ms Fostine-DeSilva answered questions on the measures after Minister of National Security Wayne Perinchief detailed plans for a new Border Protection Agency for Bermuda. According to Mr Perinchief, there are two ThruVision scanners in use at the airport.Ms Fostine DeSilva said they have been in place for two years, and it is unlikely the Island will bring in the controversial Rapiscan X-ray devices used in the US. Travellers mounted protests when Rapiscan machines were implemented in the States last year, citing concerns over privacy and safety.Ms Fostine DeSilva said: “The Department of Border Control does not comment on specific techniques or methods used to detect illicit activities at the borders. I can however confirm that we use trace detection, X-ray and TeraHertz technology for examining goods and persons together with K9 units deployed by Border Control and the Bermuda Police Service at our ports of entry.“TeraHertz waves are naturally emitted from the body, and the reader technology determines if there is a blockage of the wave transmission by the concealment under the clothing, such as money belts, fire arms, narcotic pouches, and other items. TeraHertz Wave is radiation-free imaging of concealed objects only; it is not an X-ray imaging system.”Quizzed further on the topic of the controversial US machines, she said: “The Rapiscans are not in place in the Customs Department at the airport. The technology that we use is not an X-ray scanner in the manner used by US Border Control. We’ve no intention to put one there at this time; we don’t see the necessity.”She said of TeraHertz: “It will identify a firearm, it will identify a cell phone in your pocket, but it certainly does not show your body parts in a manner that an X-ray will. You won’t see the rib cage, you won’t see any personal parts. That’s been there for two years now.”According to a report on the BBC News Travel website on Monday, Australian airports have been pilot testing ThruVision TeraHertz machines. Airport authorities in Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are also considering their use.According to the report, which quotes Ron Frye, ThruVision’s director of international business development, the machines are less expensive than those from L3 and Rapiscan which are used in the US.Ms Fostine DeSilva did not specify what Bermuda paid for its machines.Useful websites: www.bbc.com/travel, www.thruvision.com