Tattoo industry needs closer monitoring

The increased popularity of tattoos is causing a noticable rise in the number of complaints of adverse side effects associated with both their application and removal.

Chemistry students at Northern Arizona University, have carried out a study which looks at the chemical composition of a variety of tattoo inks to gain an understanding of their potential health risks.

The findings which were presented at the 229th national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, suggests closer regulation of the tattoo industry may be warranted.

The inks used in tattoos are subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as are cosmetics and color additives, but the FDA has not regulated them, local jurisdictions has traditionally done that. Consequently this has given tattoo artists carte blanche to inject whatever they think appropriate under the skin. Haley Finley-Jones, an undergraduate chemistry student and lead author of the study says the growth in popularity of tattoos among young people, has created a vital need for a better understanding of this form of self expression.

"Tattoos are no longer limited to the rough and rowdy," she says.

The new research is part of an undergraduate research project directed by Jani Ingram, a professor of chemistry at NAU and it has two main goals: to characterize the diversity of tattoo inks, and to determine if any inks pose health threats in the form of heavy metals or other potentially dangerous chemicals. It is a joint effort between students Finley-Jones and Leslie Wagner. The study examined 17 inks from five different manufacturers. "We chose to study five different brands of black ink as it is the most common color used in tattoos," Finley-Jones says. They are also testing three different brands of red, blue, yellow and white ink. Tattoo artists regularly mix inks to achieve a certain color, so the researchers selected their samples based on the most likely base colors.

As there have been no previous studies, they are using analytical techniques that can test for a wide variety of chemical components, rather than looking for a specific group of compounds.

They have already determined that the inks vary in composition from manufacturer to manufacturer and from color to color. They have also have found the presence of metals in some inks . More tests are needed to verify the identity of the metals.

A number of potential health problems might be occurring because of the lack of oversight, according to the researchers. It has been claimed that tattoo inks cause a variety of adverse effects in people, including allergic reactions to ink components, a burning sensation during the use of MRIs, and the migration of inks to different tissues in the body, such as the lungs. The specific causes of these reactions is unclear, and the only way to understand why is to know the chemical composition of the the inks. They hope that the variation found in their testing and the potential presence of toxic metals will encourage regulators to begin monitoring the tattoo ink industry more closely. The scant knowledge of the compositions of tattoo inks creates other problems; surgery to remove tattoos is becoming more widespread, and not knowing the composition makes the procedure more difficult, and possibly more painful and less effective.