In the United States, almost a quarter of all people have at least one tattoo. It is seen as a creative way to express yourself, but there is little regulation of the ink that is put into your skin– and there could be some scary ingredients.
The top chemicals of concern found in tattoo inks, according to the report, are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as benzo[a]pyrene, which is listed as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The report notes PAHs can migrate from the skin to lymph nodes. These problematic chemicals are found mostly in black inks and are most likely impurities from industrial production—in fact, some tattoo formulations are only between 70–90% pure, the report says. Tattoo inks may also contain potentially harmful metal impurities such as chromium, nickel, copper, and cobalt.
Tattoo artists artists and regulators alike are concerned about ink quality.
According to a report the JRC released this year, European regulators and others are concerned that “pigments used in the formulation of tattoo and permanent make-up inks are not produced for such purpose and do not undergo any risk assessment that takes into account their injection into the human body for long-term permanence.”
The report notes that in the U.S. and Canada, policies that govern tattooing are also spotty. In those countries, the procedure is regulated at state or provincial levels, generating “a wide variety of guidelines and hygiene standards.”
Tattoo artists also have concerns. “There are certainly really good producers of ink. But some of the inks on the market weren’t intended for tattooing. They just put them in a fancy bottle, put a dragon on the bottle, and write ‘tattoo’ on it,” said Jens Bergström, who has been a tattoo artist for 20 years and owns the Heavenly Ink Tattoo & Piercing studio in Åkersberga, Sweden. “That’s how easy it is, and that’s the danger,” said Bergström, who was a panelist at ESOF.
Before getting a tattoo, it is important that do your homework and know what kind of inks your tattoo artist will be using.
“Nobody gets forced to have a tattoo. So it’s in your own interest as a consumer to ask questions. If the tattoo artist can answer your questions and produce some documents regarding the ink, that’s a good thing,” Bergström said. “As a practitioner, it is my responsibility that I produce as [low a] risk as possible.”
But, he added, “Don’t just take for granted that all tattoo artists are good or all inks are good. You are also responsible for your own health.”