Around 30% of Spaniards between the ages of 20 and 40 have had at least one tattoo. An ancient practice that, far from going out of fashion, is increasingly in demand. And beyond the adverse effects detected at the skin level such as swelling or that are very rare, little or nothing is known about the effect that the injection of these inks can have on the body.
In order to advance in this field, the ) dependent on the World Health Organization has created in order to investigate the possible effects of tattoos on the development of long-term diseases, including cancer.
Are the inks used for tattooing safe?
The inks used for tattoos are composed of between 10 and 40% pigments “insoluble or slightly soluble in water”. Depending on the color, these pigments can be “a mixture of inorganic pigments (mainly industrial dyes) and/or organic pigments,” the agency explains.
The rest of the ink is usually formed by other ingredients such as water or alcohol, but also by dispersants, plasticizers or additives. Thus, “tattoo inks, which consist of color pigments diluted in a carrier liquid, can contain up to 100 chemical products,” they point out from the IARC.
Chemical substances that are not subjected to the usual safety tests that are carried out with medicines and cosmetics. Except in Europe, where the concentration limits for dangerous chemical substances in consumer products have been determined for a year, there are no more controls in this regard.
Sometimes inks may include substances, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, primary aromatic amines, such as lead, arsenic, nickel, or cadmium, classified by IARC as carcinogenic or possibly carcinogenic.
But one must be prudent since this consideration of carcinogens comes from studies focused on oral, dermal or respiratory exposure to them (industrial use) or “through the inhalation of smoke from or in other consumer products, such as dyes.” For the hair”.
The truth is that the injection of small amounts of these chemical substances through the needles of tattoo artists has never been studied. So it is not possible to determine if this form of absorption can “cause DNA damage and mutations.”
What is known is that most tattoo pigments don’t just stay on the skin “but are transported to adjacent lymph nodes and potentially other organs.”
Hence the interest of the Agency for Cancer Research to determine the minimum amount of these substances introduced through tattoos affects the structure of DNA and cell development.
So is it safe to get tattooed?
With the scientific evidence that is available so far, it cannot be affirmed that tattooing is not safe. “Currently, there are no ‘positive lists’ of tattoo inks. This means that existing regulations, if any, are “negative lists” that prohibit known hazardous substances, rather than “positive lists” that allow safe substances.
What the experts do recommend is that before making the decision to get a tattoo, some issues should be taken into account:
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Think first what kind of design you want so you don’t regret it in a short time.
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Find a tattoo artist who complies with current health regulations.
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Make sure that the inks are approved in Spain or Europe, since as we have seen we are the only ones that limit the amount of certain substances in the inks.
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Regarding color, the IARC recommends opting for black, since it usually has fewer ingredients in its composition. On the contrary, the reddish colors
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Keep the brand, the health registration number or the batch of ink used, in case any type of problem arises later.
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You have to know that, in addition to containing more ingredients, yellow, light blue and white tones are more difficult to remove.