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fuckyeahtattoos:

Tattoo Ink Stained By Safety Concerns—from NPR.

The Food and Drug Administration has the authority to regulate tattoo ink. But until recently, it hadn’t, citing more pressing public health problems and a lack of consumer complaints. FDA chemist Dr. Bhakti Petigara Harp says that recently, the agency has started to see an increase in consumer complaints.

“We’ve seen such things as infections, swelling, cracking, peeling and blistering at [the] tattoo site,” Petigara Harp says.

FDA’s own investigation into the chemical composition of inks and their long-term safety has turned up some other concerns. For example, when tattoos fade, as they do over time, what happens to the ink? Where does it go in the body? Researchers are exploring that question, and they think the body rids itself of the inks as it does certain bacteria and other foreign matter.

But some inks — perhaps the reds, oranges, yellows and even whites — may be problematic. The skin cells containing the ink can be killed by sunlight and ink-breakdown products may disperse through the body, scientists say. Research has already found that certain types of pigment migrate from the tattoo site to the body’s lymph nodes. This could potentially damage the lymphatic system, which filters out disease-causing organisms.

Oh definitely. Also, coffee gives you cancer, wait it doesn’t, never mind it does. Tattooing is an art form that has been in practice for thousands of years. Sure there may be some complications every now and again, but nothing that can be deemed panic-worthy for the tattoo community as a whole. Carry on people.

-M

I think you are overlooking the problem.  Its about regulating tattoo ink, the same way you regulate contact lenses or over the counter medication, not about banning it.  If there are inks, which there are, that contain chemicals which are harmful to the body, or even if there are inks, which again there are, where the color fades after a few weeks, it should be regulated.   The purpose of the FDA is to to protect consumers from buying products that can harm them, not to police tattooing.