Is it true that tattoos can cause skin cancer?

Is it true that tattoos can cause skin cancer?
Article by: SlingerVille Staff
October 10, 2012

When we go and get tattooed we make sure that the artist is using a clean needle and fresh ink when we sit in the chair, but what about the toxins in the ink? Is the ink dangerous?

When it comes to toxins in tattoo ink, Dr. Michael Roizen and Dr. Mehment Oz said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have started to look into it. Right now, 45 million Americans have tattoos, so it should not take them too long to give us an answer. There has been a wave of infections caused by ink, but those are not as serious.

Here is what Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz know and want to share with everyone on the matter:

Those colorful inks include phthalates (hormone disrupters that you worry about in plastics), as well as carcinogenic metals and hydrocarbons.

Black ink (based on soot) may contain hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can cause cancer. They're also made with dibutyl phthalate and benzo(a)prene, which is labeled by the Environmental Protection Agency as "among the most potent and well-documented skin carcinogens." Blue ink contains cobalt and aluminum. Red ink often contains cadmium and mercury sulfide. And the FDA says many of the inks are industrial grade, suitable for printer's ink and automobile paint. Plus, inks have been found to migrate to your lymph nodes.

The doctors compared not knowing for sure whether or not the ink was cancerous to being similar to people not knowing whether or not smoking was cancerous years ago. So do we wait to get tattooed till the results are in? That’s your call.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/10/tattoo_ink_contains_known_toxi.html

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