New Mother Harassed and Threatened by TSA because she requests alternate screening for her breast milk. Video contains two errors: she was not pregnant at the time (became pregnant 6 weeks later) and her child at home was 7 months old (not 1 year).

If this video taken at the Phoenix Airport security screening area is accurate than what this new mother went through is an an outrage. The video shows a mother with breast milk for her 7 month old baby asking it not be put through the TSA x-ray machine.

The Breast Milk harassment video is dated February 2010 so it is fairly old but also relevant considering the concerns surrounding TSA Pat-downs and body scanners.

A news site operated by NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller does identify the young mother, as Stacey Armato, who at the time was traveling from Phoenix to Los Angeles.

Stacey Armato says she has been through this "breast milk x-ray issue" before and was not granted the alternate screening offered under TSA rules after begging the TSA relented and let her through. {SOURCE}

Comments from the mother bullied and detained by TSA

I am the brunette in black getting my items ready for screening (you will see me about 45 seconds into the video). I travel every week and bring home breast milk with me through Phoenix Sky Harbor. TSA rules allow for alternate screening (no xray) for breast milk and I almost never had a problem...until the week before this screening. I was held for 30 minutes that week while the TSA manager called to find out the rules. I was told to "pump and dump," asked why the milk wasn't clear, and asked where my baby was if it was really milk (uh traveling, working mom pumping doesn't usually have the baby with her). After begging him to figure it out, they finally let me through. I called and complained to TSA and was instructed to travel with the TSA breast
milk rules printed out and present them whenever there is a problem. As my items come through security this time, I notice immediately that I was dealing with the same people from the week before. The woman tells me right away that my milk might have to go through xray, and then I tell her I printed the rules. I go to grab the rules on top of my bag and she freaks out and pushes my arm away. Another guy comes over and calls for "back up" and they put in me back in the glass cage. Standing 50 ft away are the same manager and supervisor I had dealt with the previous week. They will stall for 20 minutes before coming over to me.

Meanwhile, one of the guys comes over to me and tells me "to be quiet if I know what's good for me." At the end of this portion I have been locked up for just under 10 minutes. The whole ordeal takes just under 1 hour.

my brother in law did me a favor by helping me put the videos together, speed them up, and narrate. He didn't know all the details so there were a few errors but he tried to get it up as soon as possible knowing that the issue really needed to get out there. My son was 7 months old at the time and I was not pregnant during the video. I got pregnant 6 weeks later and am due any week now with our next little one. Travel and pumping will start again for me in February 2011...
staceyarmato 21 hours ago

@mommy2kdk: I get to the airport just over an hour before my flight. It is a weekly commuter flight b/t PHX and LAX and I don't check luggage. Usually the screening takes 5 extra minutes and lines are short. Clearly I wasn't planning on an hour long screening which is why I missed my flight. @kcornishscott: I am working on getting women and men together on a blog soon. TSA is a major power-house and we need to band together otherwise this abuse of power will continue. I will update soon.
staceyarmato 21 hours ago

@mommy2kdk, TSA does a very poor job of communicating the rules for breast milk. However, they are as follows: medical liquids can have an alternate screening (which means no x-ray) but must be announced before the x-ray machine. Breast milk is classified as a medical liquid. Also, the 3.4 oz requirement does not apply to medical liquids and as such does not apply to breast milk.