European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 17, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9airport bomb detectors find Only trouble critics say radioactive units too costly not foolproof pieces of Luggage Are inspected by the Tea machine. A smaller less expensive and non radioactive Detector developed by River medics inc. Can be used Only for carry on Luggage and does not meet a a specifications. Washington apr resistance from airlines airports and foreign governments is hindering Federal efforts to install sophisticated bomb detectors at High risk airports. The machines which scan Luggage with neutrons Are costly Bulky and not foolproof critics say. They can to be used on passengers and in the two airports where they re installed they Are inspecting Only a fraction of the baggage. _ but proponents say the devices should be used until better anti terrorist technology comes along. They cite sobering statistics to make their Point three bombs planted aboard passenger jets killed 548 people during the past 16 months and bombs were found or threats made affecting several other flights. James Busey director of the Federal aviation administration has ordered . Airlines to buy and install at airports scores of the nearly $1 million therm Neutron analysis Tea units or any other machine that can meet its specifications. France Japan and other countries Are developing competing systems Faa officials say. And a Massachusetts company has placed portable units using other technologies at some embassies and foreign airports but Only for hand carried items and passengers. Plastic explosives that can be folded into virtually any shape and elude detection in hand or Ordinary a Ray searches have replaced hijacking As the major threat to world aviation. The december 1988 bombing of pan am flight 103, which killed All 259 people aboard and 11 More on the ground at Lockerbie Scotland was caused by plastic explosives concealed in a radio cassette recorder. An explosion destroyed a French Uta jetliner Over the niger desert last september killing 171 people. A bomb aboard a Colombia jetliner in november Over a Bogota suburb took the lives of All 107 people aboard. A bomb was found and defused aboard a saudi jumbo Jet in november and several bomb threats have been made against other airliners including a Northwest flight from Paris to Detroit in december. Despite these incidents the Tea devices Are in use at Only two of the 40 world airports the Faa considers most Likely to be used by terrorists. Miami has one As does new Yorkus John f. Kennedy Airport. But at Juk fewer than 500 of the estimated 75,000 daily the teas Are built by science applications International corp. Of san Diego. The machines which Are radioactive and cannot be used to scan passengers put out a Neutron Cloud that penetrates and interacts with elements of explosives enabling the machine to identify them. Hadi Bozor Manesh said vice president said the Juk unit has had a false alarm rate of 2.5 percent. He said since september Only about 40 bags have had to be searched by hand. No bombs have been known to slip through and none have been found he said except in test bags that Are sent through regularly to keep a constant Check on the units reliability. The Faa has purchased six Tea units which it eventually will turn Over to airlines or airports and is expected soon to Issue deadlines for airlines to buy their own. The third Faa unit is to be installed in London next month. But the Agency is having difficulty placing the remaining three. Airlines say the government since it is most often the target should pay for All of the detectors. Airports say they done to have space for the 10-ton Tea units which Are about the size of a Small bedroom. Some foreign governments done to Trust them. Busey said the installed units Are meeting expectations. But he told the presidential aviation Security and terrorism commission earlier this month that he will review his directives partly because effectiveness of the machines May be compromised by All the publicity they have generated. Faa officials said last week however that Busey is not Likely to Retreat from the orders requiring airlines to Purchase the units. A we cannot wait until the perfect system comes along a Busey has told critics. Aviation Industry officials say the Faa requirements arc premature. A the Faa has yet to show that the machine will fit into airline and Airport operations a said Tim Neale spokesman for the Industry a air transport association. Neale said . Airlines fear Check in delays caused by the machines May steer International business travellers to foreign carriers. Northwest airlines turned Down a unit at Detroit citing electrical and space problems. The Detroit news in an editorial said Northwest s rejection was based on a thin  the san Francisco Airport which uses dogs to search for bombs objected to the Tea machine being assigned to a single airline said spokesman Ron Wilson. A one airline could claim it had the safest service. We did t think that was fair a said Wilson. German officials walked Over reliability of the devices and now have an agreement to test the Juk unit in May or june. Negotiations Are under Way to place one at Manila where Northwest suggested the Detroit bound unit be diverted. The seven member presidential commission itself is raising questions about the Faa orders. Formed in response to the flight 103 bombing the panel is expected to be critical of some government anti terrorism efforts in its report due May i 5. Commission chairwoman Ann Mclaughlin told Busey she is concerned that the Faass sweeping orders requiring the devices might have had a a dampening elect Quot on the development of improved technologies. A there has got to be a better Mousetrap out  she said. A non radioactive. Portable Egis Detector developed by the medics of Woburn mass., checks passengers and hand carried Luggage. The scanners sometimes called a sniffers Quot Are used by the state department at foreign embassies and by some foreign airports. Costing about one seventh As much As the Tea units the Egis is so sensitive it can detect minute amounts of plastic explosives said the medics president John Wood. But it has not been developed for checked in baggage and does not meet Faa  links Downs syndrome to pollution Pampa Texas apr a negligence lawsuit stemming from a deadly explosion at a chemical Plant has produced evidence linking pollution to Downs syndrome. Between 1980 and 1985, six children were born with Downs syndrome in this Small Panhandle area. The Texas department of health and the Federal centers Tor disease control have said the number is a significantly More than expected in a population of 25,000. I he agencies found no cause for the birth defects. More than 250 people from Pampa and nearby Kingsmill have joined a lawsuit against Hoechst Cela nest corp., alleging negligence in three deaths and numerous injuries from a 1987 explosion at its chemical Plant. Last week or. John Denko an Amarillo pathology St submitted a report to state District court in hous ton in the lawsuit saying that the number of Downs cases probably a is related to the environmental pollutants from the celanese  another Pampa area doctor told the court in a letter obtained by the Pampa news that in 1985 he noted Quot something most unusual in the number of Downs cases in the area. Or. Gerald h. Holman of the growth and genetics program for infants children and adolescents in Amarillo said he was concerned about a a alarming Levels of environmental pollution and related health problems. Vernon Hartline an attorney for Cela Csc. Said the company s tests show that environmental factors have nothing to do with the Downs cases. On Friday celanese offered findings by three doctors who said a it is Uncertain whether one of the children discussed by or. Denko even has Downs syn drome. A the so called general health epidemic is. In Large part merely an amalgamation of a number of health conditions that have nothing to do with one another Quot the doctors report said. It said the incidence of Down s cases in Pampa Are a for the most part absolutely Normal a and any increase is due a was Likely As anything else to  the . Rate of Downs syndrome cases among Young women is one in 1,500 and Tor women in their late 20s and Early 30s about one in 1,000. In the 1980s. The number of births among Pampa women was 347 to 484 a year. Because of the Low number of births no More than two Downs syndrome babies should have been born Between 1980 and 1985. Holman said. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit have asked to be considered As a class but the court Hasni to ruled on the motion