For many, tattoos are a decoration and a status symbol, even if they are ugly for others. Experts have more important concerns when discussing tattooing: There are indications that the dyes used in the process are harmful to health.
Would you let someone inject a few grams of car polish under your skin? Or maybe the soot produced by burning crude oil or tar?
Probably not. But people who go for tattoos undergo a very similar process. "Colors for long-lasting and vivid tattoos are intended for printers or painting cars," Wolfgang Boimler, a professor at the department of dermatology at the University of Regensburg, told Deutsche Welle.
From the skin to the whole body
The colors that end up in the tattoo needle are not made for that purpose at all, the expert claims. Namely, large companies produce tons of different pigments, primarily for industrial consumption. Small companies buy such products and process them into tattooing agents. Such substances are never tested for subcutaneous use, says Peter Lauks, of the German Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin. "Big concerns themselves say that pigments are not intended for that."
Tattoo colors have to be "drastically waterproof," adds Boimler. And this can make them dangerous, because the body cannot dissolve them on its own. According to the latest American studies, only two-thirds of the paint remains under the skin, and one-third reaches the inside of the body. "It goes into the blood, into the lymph nodes, into the organs - and stops somewhere," says Boimler. "Nobody knows exactly where."
A wide range of chemicals
The ingredients for the red, orange and yellow colors are so-called azo compounds, organic substances with a bad reputation. They often cause allergies. "There are also those, like the Red 22 pigment, that break down when the tattoo is exposed to the sun," Boimler explains. The resulting compounds are toxic and carcinogenic.
The chemical components that give bright blue and green tones mainly contain copper and nickel, and nickel is often found in brown colors with iron oxides. This metal causes allergies in many people, it is prohibited for use in cosmetic products.
Black tattoos are created with the help of a material called "carbon black", which is essentially ordinary industrial carbon black. The chemical industry produces it by burning crude oil or similar materials such as tar and rubber.
There are better colors
Experts emphasize that the risk does not stop with colors:
"Tattooing agents may also contain dissolving or clotting substances, preservatives and various impurities," warns the German Institute for Risk Assessment. The representative of that body, Peter Lauks, says that impurities are the rule rather than the exception. "German inspectors regularly complain about the chemical quality of the products they check."
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are particularly dangerous. They are created during incomplete combustion, which includes the industrial production of soot. Many of them are proven to cause cancer, and their concentration in black colors often exceeds the recommended values.
Lauks adds that "there are also products on the market that meet the recommendations." But, he adds, it is difficult for consumers to distinguish which tattoo inks are acceptable and which are not.
List of prohibited ingredients
In Germany and in many other countries, tattoo inks are not classified as cosmetics or drugs - and that's exactly the problem. Namely, medical and cosmetic preparations must meet certain prerequisites in order to be able to enter the market at all, while there are no such regulations for tattoos.
Back in 2008, the Council of Europe adopted a resolution according to which tattoo colors should be more strictly controlled. Many countries have passed appropriate laws and legal guidelines, but Lauks believes that this is not enough.
In Germany, since 2009, the use of certain substances during tattooing has been prohibited. A list of problematic ingredients has also been compiled. Everything else is allowed - even chemicals that may have just been developed and therefore have not been tested anywhere, emphasizes Lauks.
"We need to refocus on positive lists," Lauks says. This means that the regulations would have to include ingredients that are allowed, not prohibited, "so only those that are proven to be harmless."
"Not completely safe"
Even tattoo artists feel that the situation is not satisfactory: "In our opinion, tattoo inks are not completely safe at the moment," said Andreas Schmidt, vice president of the Tattoo Artists Association, at a symposium on tattoo safety in Berlin.
He advocates that the paint ingredients pass toxicology tests, but adds: "We are sure there are only a small number of problems with the paints, otherwise there would be more customer complaints and more news in the newspapers."
More research needed
The situation is complicated by the fact that tattoo inks and the risks associated with them have not been sufficiently tested on humans, and experiments on animals are prohibited. Boimler was legally prevented from trying to test on pigs on the grounds that "people get tattoos voluntarily," explains the expert.
Therefore, no one can say for sure whether tattoos are harmful to health. They may or may not cause cancer. Lauks emphasizes that everyone must decide for themselves whether to take the risk: "For now, we only know that there is no guarantee that they will not harm health."
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