The realistic variables underlying true safety in tattoo pigment manufacturing.

The regulation of the manufacture of tattoo ink products in the USA and the rest of the world is the focus of this article, which outlines the historical relationships between official and unofficial manufacturing and associated regulations, self-regulating movements within the industry and the impacts of over-regulation on the economics of ink manufacturing markets. The author, Mario Barth, highlights that changes in industry standards of production that are too rapid can cause the system to deteriorate, leading to an essentially negative shift to the underground markets. In addition, these regulations would not lead to a healthier end product because the currently considered health problems associated with tattoos (affecting 6% of tattoos performed in Germany) could be caused by multiple additional factors, such as the tattooing technique and aftercare. The pigment itself (which causes health issues in only 0.6% of tattoos) could in this equation not be optimized within an overregulated market. Further, aspects of price and revenue are analyzed in detail, showing that high quality suppliers are spending most of their efforts on passing regulations and that these regulations are not decreasing the amount of low-quality products in the general market. Finally, the notion of tattooing as 'an adult decision' is explained as another variable that has to be considered in creating regulations because the decision-making process for a tattoo (considering the price, quality and definitely the permanency) has and will have a self-regulating impact driven by the clients.