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[Otorongo]

Sorry if this is the wrong subforum, I wasn't sure where to post it.

I know x-rays cause mutations in living things, including plants.

Let's say you're travelling with leaf cuttings and they get irradiated with an airport x-ray scanner.
My question is, if this introduces mutations, can the mutations show visibly in the plant that will grow from these cuttings / clones thereof, or can it only show in its offspring, i.e. plants resulting from sexual reproduction?

[Mangrove]

This sounds like the kind of conundrum which only an experiment can solve 

[ONandONandON]

this is tested 1000s of times everyday, whenever plants and seeds are scanned at customs,
we don't see reports of mutated plants from mail or airport xrays.
probably not strong enough exposure.

[BubbleCat]

Mutation from xray scanning is a thing of the past. The photoresist used during the advent of xray needed alot of exposure and / or intensity and sinxe subjects rarely are perfectly still they went all gas no brakes on the emitter for short exposure times. With modern image sensors the power levels came down to much safer numbers while maintaining acceptably short exposure times.

1 Like Mangrove likes this.

[Otorongo]

Thanks guys.

My question was prompted specifically by this particular case:

I was going through a US airport on my way home from a Latin American country, with some live plant cuttings. They asked me about my trip and, without thinking much, I truthfully said I had stayed on a farm. They took my backpack and ran it through an x-ray scanner and the immigration officer told the technicians I had stayed on a farm in Latin America.

I've read somewhere that airport scanners normally have their power settings just high enough to be able to see what's inside, but if they suspect anything the USDA might be concerned about (like plants or soil that may carry pests) they can crank it up to kill anything alive. And I guess 'high enough to cause mutations' lies somewhere in between.