Germany ditches body scanners after repeat false alerts

Unlike metal detectors, the advantage of the US-made full body scanners is supposed to lie with the ability to detect plastic or ceramic elements concealed under clothing. Similar devices are being used in the US, Great Britain and the Netherlands.

But human rights groups, the European Parliament and religious organisations have been outraged at the use of such technology, which in the initial stage portrayed a real outline of one's bodily features. They are also expensive, costing over €130,000 a piece. The European Parliament itself has six machines which have never been used.

"The federal police will closely support development in this field so that hopefully devices will soon be available that meet our high safety standards and take passenger volume into account," Friedrich said.

Last year, Italy also decided to scale back its body-scanners plan, citing similar experiences in the trial phase.

Meanwhile, a vote in the European Parliament's transport committee on Wednesday outraged the Liberal group, as it failed to oppose a wording in the technical specifications for EU-wide rules on body scanners. The rules, carved out by the European Commission, do not specifically rule out the use of naked imagery.

"The rules do exclude the use of x-ray technology, which is something we wanted. But it doesn't oblige producers to use stick figures instead of the actual body image," Benjamin Krieger, a spokesman for the German Liberals in the European Parliament told this website.