(Yicai Global) June 27 -- China is working toward replacing walk-through metal detectors for the use of millimeter wave scanners in security checks at airports to make these safety procedures more efficient and less intrusive.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China issued testing measures and standards to officially start using the whole-body imaging device across the board, state-backed Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday. The aviation authority has trialed the scanner at international airports in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, and Nanjing since last August.

The millimeter wave scanner can detect metal and non-metal objects hidden under passengers' clothes without touching them. The machine sends a signal that bounces off the skin and produces an image of the foreign object to a screen. The device transmits less than a fraction of the amount of a mobile phone's radiation and thus is generally harmless to people.

Millimeter wave scanners have so far been used in airports in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, and Japan.

Editor: Emmi Laine