Some people are concerned about what they put in their body. Television commercials, food network pundits, afternoon talk shows and such are repeatedly telling us that we need to watch what we consume. We need to be informed about what is in our food.
I had a conversation recently with a very well intentioned young student about the subject. She wanted to make sure that the food she eats didn't have any chemicals in it or on it.
I had to groan. After all, everything is made up of chemicals.
But I listened to her point of view as she was very concerned about whether or not there might be lead in her lettuce or copper in her corn.
Then I noticed that she had a tattoo.
I was a little surprised and asked her about it. She proceeded to tell me how important it was to her due to its symbolic meaning.
That is when I asked "But didn't you say that you are concerned about what you are putting in your body?"
She gave me a confused look. I had to explain that a tattoo is something that you inject into your body. The thought had never occurred to her.
Tattoos are a powerful and permanent personal statement.
Some people get them to remember loved ones. Others get them so that they will stand out in a crowd or for the pure aesthetics or as an act of rebellion. And there are always the "me, too" crowd. Or the late night, "hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time" crowd.
Whatever the reason for getting a tattoo, it is a personal choice and there is nothing wrong it.
However, and without trying to sound preachy, I would suggest that getting a tattoo is something that should only be done after a bit of research and forethought.
Gone are the days when a tattoo artist might recycle needles from one client to the next. Latex gloves are used to ensure that there is no exchange of blood or other bodily fluids. The fear of both HIV and Hepatitis has ensured a level of health and safety during the actual application of a tattoo. Any credible tattoo artist will do their best to ensure that the process is as sanitary as possible.
But getting a tattoo intrinsically involves repeatedly sticking a needle into the dermis and injecting a dye over and over again. The question is - what is in the dye?
Surprisingly, in many cases, no one really knows.
This was a result published a number of years ago by Haley Finley-Jones and Leslie Wagner, two students at Northern Arizona University. For an undergraduate research project, they acquired 17 samples of ink from five different manufacturers and analyzed their contents.
What they found was a tremendous variety of compounds. A little further checking and the students found that while the Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. regulates the sanitation of tattoo parlors, it doesn't monitor the actual pigment used in tattooing. The same rules appear to apply with Health Canada.
This means that there is very little information about what is being put into your body during a tattoo. Manufacturers can and do use a wide assortment of compounds to make up different pigments.
Black inks, for example, might contain iron oxide or carbon black (soot) while blue inks often contain salts of copper or cobalt oxide. White inks can be made with titanium dioxide, zinc sulphate, or lead carbonate. But the manufacturers are not required to disclose their exact mixture or blend.
The only stipulation, in Canada, is that the dyes are not allowed to contain mercury compounds such as cinnabar or vermillion.
Furthermore, the regulations leave open the question of the composition of the liquid carrier used to suspend the dry pigment obtained from the manufacturer. The liquid carrier might be any one or some combination of water, witch hazel, or alcohols (including ethanol, vodka, or even Listerine) and a surfactant such as glycerin or propylene glycol.
Simply put, the world of tattoo inks is a kind of mystery ranging from highly reputable sources to questionable compounds.
An interactive poll carried out in the United States in 2003 found that one in every eight Americans had some ink somewhere on their body. The number is probably the same in Canada. And considering that tattooing is one of the fastest growing retail sectors in the North American market, it is likely that the number of people with a tattoo is likely closer to one in seven by now.
It is ironic that we have government regulations controlling trans-fats and a host of other additives in the food we eat and yet there is little in the way of control on tattoo inks which provide a much more permanent exposure to a wide variety of chemical compounds.
