- A gruesome list of illnesses and health problems contracted
by people who have had tattoos or piercings which went wrong was released
by the European commission yesterday in an effort to raise awareness about
the dangers of body art.
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- Up to half of all body piercings lead to acute infections
which require medical treatment, and there have been two piercing-related
deaths in Europe this year, the commission said.
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- It added that precious little was known about the chemical
structure and toxicity of many of the dyes used in tattooing and warned
that many people were effectively injecting car paint into their skins.
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- "Except for a limited number of dyes that have been
approved for use in cosmetics most chemicals used in tattoos are industrial
pigments originally produced for other purposes such as automobile paints
or writing inks," it said in a statement. "[They] have little
or no safety data to support their use in tattoos. Would you inject car
paint into your skin?"
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- When health standards are disregarded -and it said they
often were - people anxious to decorate and personalise their body with
dye or metal had paid dearly for bad practices. "These practices can
bring about viral infections such as hepatitis, HIV, bacterial and fungal
infections, allergic reactions such as skin irritation, and malignant lesions
such as melanoma, leprosy and other devastating diseases."
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- Other problems associated with body art were toxic shock
syndrome, tetanus, venereal ulcers, tuberculosis and a host of skin diseases,
it added.
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- "If people want to tattoo or pierce their bodies
we would like them to do so with proper health and safety guarantees,"
said Philippe Busquin, the EU commissioner responsible for the research.
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- He said existing regulations were limited to hygiene
conditions in tattoo and piercing parlours themselves but that, he argued,
was not enough.
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- "[They] are mostly limited to prescribing hygiene
practices such as the use of gloves and the sterilisation of needles. (But)
they do not tackle the issue of sterility of materials, dyes and colours,
their purity or the need for a proper toxicological and risk evaluation."
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1000389,00.html
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