Are you ready for take-off? Plans to allow passengers to be virtually strip searched by X-ray body scanners at airports across Europe were denounced yesterday as a threat to personal dignity.

MEPs called for safeguards to prevent the revealing images — which penetrate clothing and leave little to the imagination — from being stored or published, raising fears of a trade in embarrassing pictures of celebrities being sold for high prices.

The European Commission, which is proposing to allow airports to use body scanners from 2010, insisted yesterday that passengers would still be able to opt for traditional metal detectors, combined with a “pat-down” search by a security official if that was thought necessary.

It said that full body scanners were faster and would shorten queues at airports, but MEPs voted for consultations with passenger groups, human rights lawyers and health experts before the machines become widespread.

“Although claims are made that the images are not of photographic quality, they seem to be quite explicit about portrayal of genitalia and intimate medical details such as breast implants and colostomy bags,” said Sarah Ludford, a Liberal Democrat MEP for London.

“Travellers need to know exactly what the images display, their right to opt for an alternative search, and how they can have confidence that intrusive and sensitive images will not be misused. There is a real fear that these images — particularly of celebrities — could end up on the internet. Despite all kinds of promises and laws, we know that personal data has not been secure in the past.”

The European Commission replied yesterday that the extra consultations demanded by MEPs would not delay its timetable for including body scanners in updated airport safety regulations.

A spokeswoman said: “The full package must be ready to come into force in April 2010.”

She said that the scanners took low level X-rays and were viewed by an operator some distance away from the passenger, who would relay significant findings by radio.

There was nothing to stop individual EU states from introducing the technology, which has been tested on a voluntary basis at Heathrow and Luton in Britain, Schiphol airport in Amsterdam and Helsinki's Vantaa airport, as well as at terminals in the US and Australia. The EU simply wanted to ensure common ground rules across Europe, she said.

A spokesman for the EU's transport commissioner said: “It is correct that the body will indeed be pictured. But the quality is more that of a negative of a photograph; it is not a very clear image, but sufficient to detect metal things, explosives or strange objects. Many aspects have been exaggerated right now by some parliamentarians.”

Conservatives in the European Parliament were also wary.

Philip Bradbourn, the Tory transport spokesman, said: “This technology has the potential — and, I stress, the potential — to force air passengers to undergo what could be seen as undignifying treatment.”

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