TSA Guidelines Say It Is Not Subject To X-Ray, But Agents Insisted

A mother in a security line at Phoenix Airport who also happens to be an attorney was reportedly placed in a "specialty screening area" by TSA agents when she objected to allowing breast milk she was carrying to be x-rayed. The "specialty screening area" is a glassed-in enclosure in view of other passengers clearing security.

Stacey Amato told the blog Prison Planet that she was returning to her home in Los Angeles when she was stopped by TSA. She was carrying a printed copy of TSA's guidelines that expressly point out that "Mothers flying with, and now without, their child be permitted to bring breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is declared for inspection at the security checkpoint.”

The rules state that breast milk is considered a medical liquid, which should not be x-rayed. She was carrying a printed copy of the rules because, she says, she had the same problem at the same gate at the same airport the week previous.

But the TSA agents put her in the security area anyway. Amato says she was told by a Phoenix police officer who interviewed her in the screening area that the agents had recognized her from the earlier incident, and they "had it out for her" and that she should fly through a different gate in the future. She says he advised her that if she did not cooperate, he would be forced to arrest her.

Stacey Amato Held In "Specialty Screening Area"
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Amato said when shewas eventually able to retrieve and present the copy of the rules concerning breast milk to the TSA supervisor, she was told that it was not a medical liquid. When she handed him the second set of guidelines saying it WAS to be treated as a medical liquid, she was told "well,not today." She says she told the container was "too full" to be exempted from the x-ray machine, and she eventually was required to pour the liquid into eight different containers, and the mild was tested for explosives residue, before she was allowed to proceed.

Amato was able to obtain copies of the security tapes from the airport, but they had apparently been heavily edited. She eventually made it through security, but missed her flight due to the problems at the security checkpoint. Southwest booked her on the next available flight to LA.

FMI: www.prisonplanet.com, www.tsa.gov