By 2012, Hair Gels and Mouthwash Maybe Fly-able

Airline passengers may once again be allowed to board flights with creams, gels and liquids that were banned over security concerns, the International Civil Aviation Organization said September 27. “In the next two years (the ban) will end,” the ICAO Secretary General told AFP ahead of the UN organization’s 37th general assembly. New equipment capable of detecting explosives in water bottles, makeup kits or toothpaste tubes, for example, would be installed at most airport security checkpoints by 2012, he explained. The unprecedented security measure took effect in 2006 after British police foiled a transatlantic plot to detonate liquid explosives aboard airliners flying to Canada and the United States. Controversial full body scanners, opposed by nations including the U.S. will still be used to varying degrees in the short term because they allow for quicker inspections and reduce lines at airport security checkpoints.

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