Debunk-Tuesday – Tattoos will kill you
I have to admit something: I love tattoos. Always have. I have the utmost respect for the artists sitting there for hours and carefully painting impressive picture under one’s skin. With that being said, sadly I was not able to get inked myself so far. But this is still something I want to do at some point in my life. But some people have been warning me and urged me not to do this. Mainly because they are worried of the possible dangers which come along with the used ink. Some argue, you can get ill and eventually die of cancer. Let’s find out how much truth to this statement actually is.
Inked
Initially, I wanted to write about something else today, but last night I read an interesting article on Politico(1) about the possible issues associated with the ink, which is often used for tattoos.
Since I’m a curious guy and also somewhat affected by these problems (or likely will be, as soon as I get my own tattoos), it was only natural for me to dig a little deeper. But more about that later.
Personally, I was always interested about the things we put into our bodies (no, not THESE things, shame on you and your dirty, little mind). Therefore, I read a lot about nutrition, drugs, alcohol and so on. Tattoo ink is just the next logical step and since most of my closer friends are inked as well, it can’t hurt to get a bit more knowledge about that.
But as I already told you in the introduction part, some people I talked to believe that getting tattoos is bad in general, because the toxicity of the ink is at least questionable and might also be associated with many occurring health problems. I tend to get annoyed by these claims – most likely because they are aiming at something I admire and want to do myself – so for my own sake, I needed to learn more about the inks in tattoos and whether there actually are real dangers involved or the people I talk to are just conservative pricks without any sense for art.
One thing seems to be sure: the whole issue is not as clear and easy as some people might argue.
Mens sana in corpore sano
Since this is going to be another article about the toxicity of something, I will try my best not to mess up things too much, in order to escape the eternal wrath of our beloved go-to-toxicologist @sco.
To prevent this article from becoming too extensive and bore you guys with too many details, I am only going to focus upon the issues associated with the ink – and not on other problems which might occur during the process of receiving a tattoo or even afterwards. Although there are sometimes allergic reactions of the skin when the ink is injected(1), these are relatively harmless – especially when compared to another probable health concern which might occur: cancer.
So, the most important question is whether a tattoo can actually cause cancer and will kill you eventually.
To spoil the fun right from the start: we don’t know that – yet.
So far, there were no epidemiological studies which put emphasis on a link between tattoo inks and the likelihood of cancer – but just because something has not been researched does not mean, it is non-existent. So far, I know of no studies which were conducted to prove the existence of unicorns – but that doesn’t mean, unicorns are not real. Checkmate unicorn-haters.
But what do we know?
Well, it seems the evidence for a connection between cancer symptoms (or cutaneous malignancies, to be precise) is rather thin. According to a study conducted by Kluger et al. in 2012, there were only 50 cases of people with tattoos which actually reported on these symptoms. Considering the fact, that there are literally millions over millions of inked people worldwide – it seems to be a far-fetched conclusion to assume a correlation between cancer and tattoos which is more than coincidentally(2).
But, then again, the authors of these study made it also clear, that there is just not enough data to draw a definite conclusion. So, caution is still needed.
To get a better understanding of what is actually happening after receiving a tattoo, it is helpful to take a closer look at in vivo studies done with mice. In one of these studies the researchers were using tattoo ink on mice’s skins and used UV or laser light sources afterwards to evaluate how the ink is reacting to the exposure of light(3). Their findings were quite remarkable. After a period of 42 days the amount of remaining ink pigment on the mice’s skins was reduced by 32% - meaning, these 32% had “travelled” (or better, were discomposed) into other parts of their bodies, mostly towards the lymph nodes and maybe even into some other organs. But there’s even more to it. With an addition of UV light, the amount of the original injected ink pigments was reduced by a vast amount of 60%. More than half of the ink – woosh. Gone. So, given a standard tattoo with about 250mg of ink which is injected into one’s body – up to 32% percent of that (roughly 80mg) are enjoying a journey towards the lymph nodes or even 150mg are going to be decomposed via UV light – dismantling these pigments into possibly carcinogenic amines. Ouch. So, even if there is no clear link between cancer and tattoos so far (mainly because of a lack of sufficient data), it is not entirely stupid to take at least some precautions.
But that’s not enough. There are even more problems. In contrast to most cosmetic products which have to follow very strict guidelines to ensure they are not harming human health – tattoo ink is so far not considered as a cosmetic product. In addition to that, the ink which is usually used was not originally produced to be used as an injection below human skin, hence lacking medical purity. This is probably one of the main reasons why there might actually be some issues and negative health reactions associated with these inks. They are not intended to be used on humans in the first place, but usually products of the chemical industry intended for other purposes.
So, everything is fucked up and my tattoos are really going to kill me eventually?
Relax. As being said, there are millions of inked people out there and most of them are doing quite fine. So, you will most like be alright as well. To ease your mind a bit, you can take a look at another study done with mice. This is a relatively new one and the researchers were using banned inks on purpose in order to prove whether these are actually carcinogenic or not(4).
Well, despite very extensive tattooing the mice were doing relatively fine. Of course, this is also no definitive evidence, that these inks (or any other) will not ever cause cancer – because the sample size was small and, in case you were not aware of this, mice are not humans.
In addition to that, you should be aware, that the carcinogenic elements which will most likely rest in your lymph nodes are permanent. That means, this can be one reason for a life-long increased risk(5) of eventually contracting cancer – even if not caused by these elements in the first place, since the concrete mechanism is not fully understood yet.
One thing is for sure: more research is needed.
Incorpus
So, what’s the take-away of this article? Are we all going to die? Yes. That’s most likely going to happen. Will it be caused by tattoos? Maybe, but probably not. Right now, there is just not enough data available to draw any definite conclusion whether the ink used for tattoos is as dangerous as some may believe.
But we do know, that this ink is actually not intended to be used for injections into the human body in the first place. This is a fact. And the lack of medical purity of the ink is definitely something you should be aware of, if you decide to get you own piece of body art. Altering your body appearance is definitely nothing which should be an easy-made decision and you should be aware of the possible risks at the same time.
But. Life is risky in general. A lot of things we do can have detrimental effects on our health – but we do them regardless, because they are an essential part of enjoying our lives and fulfilling our desires. Which is ok in my world. Tattoos are definitely not something which comes along completely risk-free – but without risk, where would be the fun?
Feel always free to discuss my ideas and share your own thoughts about the things I’m writing about. Nobody is omniscient and if we all walk away a bit smarter than before, we’ll have achieved a lot.
Thanks for reading and stay sceptical.
Make sure, to check out #steemstem for more science related content.
References
(1) Tattoo ink and EU regulations | (2) Tattoos and cancer | (3) Tattoo ink and light | (4) Banned ink and cancer | (5) Life-long cancer risk
Debunk-Tuesday
I still have the words from my mother ringing in my ears from childhood when I used to draw 'tattoos' on my arm "You'll get ink poisoning". Obviously I took no notice and obviously, as I'm past my half century I did not die from fountain pen and biro abuse. And I do have a small tattoo. Until studies prove otherwise I don't see why there's any reason for concern. There'll always be a few people who have a problem but it's no different to, for example, the current e- cig trend in the UK. People are happily smoking in a vapour that is inhaled and "claims" to be safer than standard cigarettes but it's not been medically tested. No one knew that cigarettes killed 50 years ago. Life is a risk unless you lock yourself in a padded room. .. then that's not life. I would like to see more licence and regulation, especially ink used. Also I believe that tattooists should be monitored and licensed under a medical umbrella and not just local bylaws for trade and hygiene. After all, dentists, doctors, physiotherapists, opticians etc have to be (in the uk) and whilst they are health focused the underlying trade of messing with a human's body is the commonality. No one wants to have a beautiful picture permanently engraved on for it to then cause life changing issues, but until proven otherwise I guess, like many of our personal decisions it's a chance we take. Thank you for the information and go get your tattoo ;)
Thanks a lot for your thoughts on that :)
I absolutely agree on that. Sure, many things humans do are probably not really healthy in the first place - but they increase our perceived quality of life regardless - which makes them worth, I guess.
In addition to that I do think as well, that there should be some way to increase the quality of the used inks.
I think you made it well enough to escape my eternal wrath. ;-P
Well-written, very balanced, and as usual in my field, the risk is not really clear, but:
The sentence I write at the end of every single publication of mine. Every. Single. Time.
I even have eloquent phrases to make it sound different every time, like:
or
The life of a toxicologist.
The life of every scientist - how to write the same thing in 10 different ways 😎
Its an art, not everyone can master at. xD @scienceangel
That sounds more to be within the competence of politicians.
oh, if you have to describe the same method in 5 different papers, that requires some creativity to pass the plagiarism tests. Self-plagiarization is a thing, according to publishers...
This creates a small passage to confess when u miss something important on ur writing. So its a super useful thing, i guess. :D @sco bro
;-P
Especially it gives you pause to admit you didn't find the holy grail... again.
Phew. Lucky me :)
But yeah, I was actually surprised to find out these inks were not medically pure and original intended for something else. This bothers me actually, since I don't really wanna put ink into my body, which wasn't specifically created for that purpose.
Ah, the problems of non-regulation! ;-P
I heard (so this is not backed by sources^^) that the quality of inks varies a lot depending on the manufacturer, but that it's next to impossible for the custumer to keep an overview?
I knew, you were going to say that :P
And yeah, as far as I know, most customers can't really keep track on the inks used and whether they are actually decent products or not. An issue, which needs to be resolved in some way.
Oh no worry, the market solves every issue...
(not xD)
I have been getting tattoed since the age of 18 and since I am 20 years older right now and don't show signs dying anytime soon other than meeting in a fatal accident, I am leaning on the side that you should get that Tattoo Man!!!
It is addictive .... get one and you want more...
Most important is design, significance and meaning.
PS : NO GIRLFRIEND NAMES !!!! BIG NO NO !!!!
Yeah, I kinda imagine that as well. I'm really into biomech art. I love these designs. Will go for it at some point.
I won't. Promised :D
I guess I shouldn't have had this @zest tattoo on my neck. No regrets yet, anyway
Imao, Thank you especially for the "No regrets yet, anyway"
I have a tattoo on the back on my neck of a Phoenix, did it after I watched the "Chamber of Secrets " :)
I like the meaning of always rising from the ashes ... very similar to my life.
Nice read. I leave an upvote for this article thumbsup
Witty as ever :) It is always a pleasure to read your stuff :)
I am not getting a tattoo anyway (not a fan), but I am waiting forward to yours ;)
Cheers! :)
Thanks and I'm waiting too :)
But since the one I want to have is pretty expensive, this will still take a while until I'm getting it.
As you said 50 out of millions of people got cancer....... This really proves that tattoos and tattoo ink have no connection with cancer......
People die every day and so will we but this does not mean that we should sit in a dark room with no happiness and fun.
Precaution is..... Yes it is better than cure but one cannot just prevent forever.... No?
Life is just like a roller coaster ride you have to go through all the loops........
What do you guys think? Am I right?
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Let's be honest, a lot of things in life a carcinogenic to at least some degree, dependent on the dose and your unique biology. For example, I've inherited some bad genes from my father that result in an abnormally high amount of moles and new ones seem to appear most often in places of significant skin damage, so tattoos are out of the question for good, obviously.
But for other people the cancer\toxicological risks may involve less obvious genetic conditions like abnormal reactions to the ink itself that you've mentioned. Thankfully we already have initiatives that allow submitting your genome for analysis, so that's at least one factor you can manage.
Now ink and tattoo parlour hygiene are obvious concerns that so far we're only able to judge based on reputation and immediate inspection. It would be nice if there was at least a consumer watchdog that could provide some recommendations on available inks.
Even better, since body modification scene is only set to advance further, cooperation between licensed medical professionals and artists in the same space could be the best available solution. The biggest barriers to this are traditional cultural perceptions on both sides.