If you live in one of the EU member states and were considering getting a tattoo, you may want to act soon.
In fact, the European Commission recently requested that ECHA begin a safety evaluation of several common tattoo inks, which may eventually lead to use restrictions of these inks throughout the EU. As part of the proposal, ECHA would also need to study the socio-economic impact of restricting these common tattoo inks. Tattoo inks throughout the world often consist of a pigment base, responsible for the color of the ink, and a carrier, which acts as a solvent, allowing the delivery of a liquid form (solids don’t flow so well). Unfortunately, many of these pigments contain heavy metals, such as mercury, which imparts a red color, and cadmium, which can impart a red, orange or yellow color, depending upon the particular cadmium compound used.
