But you did give me a thought, it would be interesting to have several people who travel quite a bit to wear these badges to see how they turn out over time. For some people you have to show the danger, not just describe it.
http://www.amazon.com/RADStickerTM-radiation-exposure-determ...
To be more precise, there are also badges that are configured to change color once a dose threshold has been breached, and can provide a very precise dosage number if you send it into a lab.
At the highest end you also have active dosimeters that can give accurate readings on the spot.
Note that the formulas that doctors use to calculate cancer risk from dosage are based on the evenly deposited energy data. These numbers would suggest that skin is less cancer prone than other tissues, but this is mostly because most of the energy would be deposited elsewhere.
I don't think I'm unreasonable in suggesting that lots of animal testing would need to be done before unleashing such machines on the general public and 10's of thousands of TSA workers. You don't risk public health on "spherical cow" assumptions.
We never know something is dangerous until someone realises, and then everyone says, well, oops.
Then it becomes common knowledge and everyone will say, of course man, X is dangerous, it's obvious.