Airport Screeners Order Mom to Drink Breast Milk

[AAL_Silverbird]

Click Here For Link (http://www.wabcradio.com/listingsentryfeature.asp?ID=39395&PT=WABC+Talk+Topic+of+the+Day)

Tuesday Aug. 6, 2002; 10:27 a.m. EDT

Airport Screeners Order Mom to Drink Breast Milk

In the latest in a series of airport security nightmares, a woman flying from New York to Florida was forced to drink three bottles of her own breast milk before being allowed to board a flight at JFK International Airport - in an incident that has one prominent New York civil rights attorney ready to sue.

Elizabeth McGanny of Oceanside, NY called WABC Radio's Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby Tuesday morning to relate the story.

Guards at JFK's Delta terminal first "patted me down and made me take my shoes off," McGanny told the morning radio duo. "One security guard took my four-month-old out of my arms and then they went through the baby's diaper bag."

There the guards discovered the three suspect bottles, McGanny said, and promptly ordered her to drink the contents.

"I'm not drinking that. It's breast milk," she replied. "They said, 'Either drink all three bottles or your not getting on the plane.'"

McGanny said that when she asked the guards why they were putting her through the ordeal, they explained, "There could be explosives in the baby bottles and I could throw something at the stewardesses."

"I asked them if I could just taste it; if I could just show them how you would check a baby's bottle - that it was warm milk and everything. And they said, 'No,'" ordering her to "drink it all."

The nursing mom then offered to feed the milk to her baby as the guards looked on but they refused.

After hearing the tale, Kuby, who doubles as one of New York's most celebrated civil rights attorneys, suggested that McGanny call his office.

"How much money do you smell here?" Sliwa asked his radio partner.

"If I get a jury of nursing mothers - a lot," Kuby replied.

Copyright © 2002 ABC Radio Incorporated

[411A]

Thought most "breast milk" was...in the breasts.:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Orca strait]

Does anyone know where there’s an icon that slowly shakes its head with a glazed look in its eyes?

What say we take a poll and have the newly formed Homeland Security changed to Homeland Insecurity...?

Unbelievable.... http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/2.gif

Edited for requested Icon http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/sad2.gif

[HinanoPoolChampion]

The breast of luck in your case dear.....:D

[PLovett]

ORCA

I think the words you may be searching for are.....


Homeland Insanity. :mad:

[Bird Strike]

I don't know the full story so I shouldn't really comment, but couldn't she have just told/asked the security to keep it, or to have it chucked down the sink somewhere? :confused:

[BlueCross]

Now that's definitely taking it way too far. I hope those security people get fired, and fined. I suppose with all the strict regulations and all it's easy for some to use their position and go power-tripping.. :rolleyes:

[gaunty]

The world has absolutely, very definitely, positively, gone mad.

What is the educational level required of the these security people, or is it just because they get bored.??:rolleyes:

[Tom the Tenor]

They are all going to get shiney medals from George W Bush for helping to make The Free World a safer place. :eek:

[Kaptin M]

Ever heard of "expressing" breast milk, 411A? It's quite common for nursing mothers to do that for a variety of reasons.

Anyway SACK these power-hungry, meglomaniac security dorks, then have Mr Kuby sue the @ss of them and the company they were employed by!

[Orca strait]

Bird Strike
If the Mother disposed of all the milk, what do you feed the Baby? Exposing a breast to feed a child in a public place has actually resulted in arrest and charges in some of the more pious regions of the US of A...

PLovett
Insanity it is...

[N380UA]

Having read the story, I had to laugh for about an hour. But seriously, how does one respond to such loonies without insulting anyone? All I can say is that I’m sure glad I’m not an American citizen.

[BEagle]

I hope that Elizabeth McGanny takes these bottom-fondling failed wheelclampers to the cleaners.

I know that educational standards aren't that high in a country which took some 3 years to find just 7 people capable of doing a monkey's job in a Mercury capsule - and which elected people like George Dubya - but surely even they can find someone with enough common sense to avoid such lunacy as this!

[Carry0nLuggage]

There do seem to be a lot of "isolated" incidents of poor security. This would be funny if it wasn't so serious.

I assume if some safety related ground handling work such as fuelling or baggage handling is done badly the aircraft captain has the authority to have it done again.

Question: Does this authority extend to security?

If so much effort is made to search the halt and the lame aircrew and now nursing mothers, who could be getting through. It might concentrate a few minds if a few plane loads were re-screened. I would put up with the delay if the captain ( not the aiport ) explained the reason.

[Konkordski]

Any of you see the TV report this morning showing the number of nail-clippers and manicure sets confiscated by BAA at LHR/LGW/STN...? :rolleyes:

[Seriph]

Hey guys give the security people a break, they have to take an IQ test to get the job. If the result reaches double figures they don't get hired.

[Low-Pass]

Konkorski - Yep. Apparently got through TWO airports in the US and the "Dangerous Items" were only detected before she got on a flight to Scotland.

Ther'es another thread on this running. Will run and run and run and.....

So here's a joke:

Q: What do you get when you cross the most powerful, nuclear-armed nation in the world with the most paranoid nation in the world going to extreme lengths in "security" to protect itself?

A: A self-satisfied afterglow?????

Hang on, perhaps it's not a joke.........:eek:

(Edited for cr@p joke. Replaced with new cr@p joke. :D )

[MPH]

Maybe it's time to have a 'Milkyway'. ...sorry guys could't resist!:)
Once again the insanity of security guards with an altered ego?

[Tinstaafl]

What does human milk taste like anyway? Hopefully OK if one has to drink 3 bottles of the stuff...:rolleyes:

[Low-Pass]

What ever happened to the milk of human kindness? :(

[rotated]

Amazed they didn't insist on a thorough inspection of the factory, too...could have been manufacturing the lethal stuff right on the plane!

[126.9]

Only in America mate! And yes, it's totally believeable!

[Bouncy Landing]

Hijacked with lethal breast milk..... our "cousins" never cease to amaze. So whats next - full body cavity searches for everyone - after all we could have a knife / stick of explosive / nail clippers secreted inside our person for use once airborne....

I used to love the States and our friends there but they really are not doing themselves any favours now. As someone said on a similar thread the other day the words "American" and "Intelligence" dont seem to go together just now.

[Awakevortice]

While operating a US - UK flight last week, I met one of these obsructive idiots. A Milwaukee security cop jus' doin his job - he didn't want to let me go back aboard the aeroplane I'd just landed because his hand held scanner detected that my uniform clip-on tie had a metal clip. Had he to inspect it to ensure that I hadn't cunningly sharpened it?... with the devious intent of cutting my own head off just before the next landing? in violation of Federal Law? He asked me repeatedly "Will yo allow me to touch your person here?" In a litigation avoidance tone of voice before frisking one pocket at a time.

I spent a good 10 minutes proving that my belt, shoes and shirt wings were not made of C-4. I heard from an ex TWA pilot afterwards that if you become exasperated with their panto and turn down a request to touch your person wherever, you are sent to the special treatment room for an "interview" and the works.
Is controlling an aeroplane with between 1 and 500 souls aboard really that much safer with your nail clippers confiscated? They have lost the plot.

I would welcome an opportunity to reverse the spread of this virus of ridicule which now seems to have previously reasonable locations (UK & Europe) by the throat.

What can we do?

[Hotel Charlie]

These are the morons that are supposed to keep us safe!!:eek:
Some of Y´all are talking about education levels etc. This has nothing to do with that. It´s a Question about the level of IQ.
Where do they get these people anyway? Do they ship them in on busses from the ward every morning or what? No wonder the US pilots want to arm themselvs :cool: .

[MaximumPete]

My sympathies are with the mother put through an embarrassing ordeal.

I suppose the next step will be a complaint from some human rights organisation about public indecency if the poor lady tries to breast feed her child on the aircraft.

Where oh where are we going?

MP:(

[744rules]

When will security staff make you drink your shaving foam, aftershave, lick your deodorant stick, eat your lipstick etc ??? ;) ;)

[pulse1]

I suspect that, if security staff were more intelligent, life would be even more difficult for the passengers. One of the minipulses has a holiday job working as a search officer at a ferry terminal. After only three weeks of hearing the same "original" jokes from punters he has started to look for ways of relieving the boredom.

Last week he won a £30 bet by getting a car driver to stand on one leg and recite "I'm a Little Teapot". One wonders how many of the other incidents are for similar reasons.

[S76Heavy]

Face it guys, Osama has won...:(

These idiots ought to be taken out and shot, uncle Joe (Stalin) style. Remove 'em from the human gene pool and all that.

Makes me glad I fly helicopters.:D

[Young Paul]

For those who don't know .... like 411A (who presumably also drinks cows' milk straight from the teat .....!)

One expresses breast milk in much the same way as one gets cow's or goat's milk - either by hand (which is frankly about as much fun as milking a cow for either mum or dad) or by pump.

It serves the same purpose - you can use it later on. This is particularly valuable if your baby was premature, and in an incubator, so you can't feed it yourself, or if mum is going to work or out for the evening and wants somebody else to feed baby, but wants to keep up your production of milk (which drops off if the baby feeds on formula), or to ensure that baby gets the best all the time.

I never had the nerve (as an adult!) to taste a large sample (either expressed or "on tap" as it were), but in small doses, it was sweet and not as "heavy" as cows' milk. My children seem to have done OK by it.

Breast is best!

There is a lot of stuff about childbirth that, frankly, it's best not to know about until you have to ... for the sake of the continuation of the human species.

[RRAAMJET]

Yes, sympathy to the mother involved - what a disgrace.

Some points to ponder:

A large number of the screeners were kept on from Argen"dull" or whoever the previous shambles was before becoming Gov. employees. Many, many of them are immigrants - many from Africa - and a great deal of them show very limited command of English. This lets down the good job done by others. I suspect some of them have never seen expressed milk in bottles. Some of them clearly don't like women - just ask the FA's.

I had to sit an English test for my Green Card, way back when, so I give the screeners one when I suspect they're struggling. I carry a chart clip - shows up interesting on an x-ray - I claim it's part of my flight equipment. Bingo....immediate English language problems....call for Supervisor....report to Chief pilot that yet another screener can't cope with basic English....

We have the ludicrous situation right now that I can't go for recurrent training without 30-day DOJ approval, but in the meantime I'm ok to continue flying the real thing....duhhh.

I suspect this is why the previous TSA chief was asked to leave...the ATA had had enough, and started some very powerful lobbying. Maybe the Admiral will bring back some sense....

[moggie]

Tinstaafl - it tastes MUCH better than cows milk and the natural containers are so much nicer, too!

These security guards are not going to get medals from the President, they are all going to be running for President. The Americans are willingly turning their country into a Dictatorship - maybe W will get some electoral tips from Bob Mugabe (or has Bob got his tips from W?).

Even with the IRA at full steam we never got this crazy on the eastern side of the Atlantic.

[TwinNDB]

I just feel sorry for the mother.

Thank f*ck I'm not an American and that my country is about as far from the place as you can get!

Awakevotice - Would have gladly told said "security" agent where he could shove my tie pin and belt. I would have liked him to deal with my employers after the incident and to explain to them why he felt he needed to delay a flight by hours. Costing the company a change in crew (due to expired duty), overnight accomodation for passengers and any other charges levied by ATC for a new slot, parking overnight etc etc. BUT maybe this is just an annoyed me talking at the moment!

I mean, breast milk for christs sake. Like someone else said, they took the amunition away from her and left her with the full factories still intact!

I would also like to know what crew member, in their right mind, would hand control of an aircraft (no matter what size), over to someone with a nail file and clippers :rolleyes: If someone came up to you in the street with a nail file would you give them your wallet?? I dont think so!

RANT OVER

Twin

[Jump Complete]

It would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetic and no doubt a stressfull experience for the mother. I'm not an expert on explosives but does any known explosive look any thing like milk (breast or otherwise?) And if she's prepared to drink any of it, let alone give it to her child, erm doesn't that prove it?

I understand the need for mothers to 'espress' the milk, but what the hell is wrong with breast feeding in the aircraft? The only person who could possibly see anything with out deliberatly craning their necks is the one sitting next to her (husband/partner?) and a stragically placed blanket should surfice.
When I was staying in Florida once, a program fuzzed out the back view of a womans breast (ie what you could see under her arm!) I mean, the crap and the violence that America has peddled in films to the whole world and they're worried about that! Something definetely not right.

[PAXboy]

Having never been a father, I have not had the opportunity to taste the material at source ...

I gather from others that it is very pleasant. Mothers have told me that they cheerfully had infant on one side and husband on the other :cool:

[BEagle]

Is that why it's called 'espresso' coffee?

Land of the Free? Land of the terminally paranoid and ignorant, more like.

[Captain Airclues]

Were there any witnesses to this event? I'm sure that, being a nursing mother, the lady is beyond reproach, but with the prospect of a multi-million dollar out-of-court settlement, we need to be sure of the facts before making accusations.

Airclues

[Tinker]

Appologies if this has already been mentioned but I don't have time to read the full post. I recall a few months ago a story on Reporting Points of a teenage boy who became very ill after being asked to drink ditch water by US airport screeners that he had collected for a school science project .

[Pronto]

I understand that adults lack the necessary enzyme to digest breast milk, and that drinking it in any quantity is capable of making the adult consumer feel most unwell...