Germany plans lab tests for airport "naked scans"

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will begin laboratory tests in the next few weeks on full-body airport screening devices to see if they can produce images that do not show passengers naked, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Earlier this month, the European Commission shelved plans to introduce the security check, dubbed a "naked scanner" by German critics, but said it still aimed to use body scanners in future.

Germany last month described the EU scanner plan as "nonsense," and an Interior Ministry spokesman said tests would attempt to show whether images of concealed explosives or ceramic knives could be generated without also showing passengers naked.

The Netherlands already uses the high-tech machines.

(Writing by Dave Graham; Editing by Louise Ireland)