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European nations were sharply divided on Thursday over the need to install full-body scanners at European airports, with some EU members playing down the need for beefed-up security measures.

Italy on Thursday joined the United States, Britain and the Netherlands as nations who have announced plans to install the scanners following a Nigerian man''s reported attempt to blow up a US airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

Washington is seeking enhanced security measures on all trans-Atlantic flights heading for the United States.

That''s a huge task, however, since European airports carry thousands of passengers on over 800 flights a day across the lucrative North Atlantic route.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pressing for Britain to add more scanners than the few they have been testing at London''s Heathrow Airport, Europe''s busiest, Manchester and other sites.

A Rapiscan machine was on Thursday trialled at Manchester Airport, through which half a million passengers pass every year.

Full-body scanners use X-Rays to see through passengers'' clothes, producing "naked" images to identify what''s being carried on board.

One manufacturer, Rapiscan, says interest has increased substantially since the Christmas Day incident, with a number of major airports are expecting to install them within weeks.

Manchester Airport said it takes just 35 seconds to screen a passenger with a full-body scanner, compared with two and a half minutes using conventional walk-through scanners and ''pat down'' techniques.

There''s concern that if regulators and governments make full-body scanners mandatory in airports, it could take a long time to produce and install all the machines required.

But Rapiscan''s Terry Whittock said he was confident the company could meet any increase in demand within weeks.

Each machine costs about 100-thousand euros (143-thousand US dollars).

They are produced in Mississippi in the US, but the company has additional production facilities in the UK and in Malaysia if necessary.

Some experts however have questioned the technical effectiveness of body scanners.

This is not the be all and end all to security. It is one answer, provides an additional tool, an additional function at airport security. But there are many other issues that need to be addressed," said Chris Yates, an aviation security expert.

In Italy, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that full body scanners will be installed at Rome''s Leonardo da Vinci airport, Milan''s Malpensa airport and in Venice within the next three months.

In all, about 10 scanners will be purchased.

"Security comes first before everything else for those who fly," Maroni said at a press conference.

But as EU aviation security experts met on Thursday on the subject of scanners, Belgium''s secretary of state for transport, Etiennne Schouppe, described such enhanced measures as "excessive," saying security requirements at European airports are already strict enough.

Spain too has expressed skepticism about the need for body scanners, and the German and French governments remain uncommitted.