Liquid ban will linger
October 3, 2009
Frank@OBOW in Travel News & Regulations

… and watch it with that powder. The WSJ Middle Seat reports that the liquid ban will remain for at least another year and that certain powders are now being targeted for screening as possible explosive materials. I never believed the conjecture that the 3-1-1 regs would fade away this year. Nor do I believe that new scanning technology will lead to a 3-1-1 rollback one year from now (as the WSJ post mentions). Government regulations, like taxes, are easy to implement and almost impossible to get rid of.

About the powder:

“Officers will use X-ray technology to determine which substances may require additional screening’’ with a powder test kit, Ms. Payne says. For security reasons, she declined to say how that happens.

If a powder is considered suspicious, TSA uses a test kit that takes a small sample and screens it for dangerous substances.

TSA says the vast majority of commonly carried powders, like most medication, infant formula and makeup are unlikely to need further screening. Let’s hope we don’t get hit with a lot of “false positives,” sending people to secondary screening for their foot powder. - WSJ

 

Article originally appeared on One-bag, carry-on, light travel tips, techniques, and gear (http://www.1bag1world.com/).
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