Tattoo artists’ anger over new EU rules more than skin deep
BRUSSELS — Tattoo parlors say their art will lose a lot of its vibrancy after European Union rules banning thousands of chemicals in their coloring ink kick in Wednesday. The 27-nation bloc answers back that public health will be much better served with tougher restrictions on elements in ink that may cause cancer or allergies.
The standoff between regulation and freedom of artistic expression has triggered a torrent of complaints and accusations.
In Amsterdam, Tycho Veldhoen has plied his trade for 25 years and fears an “enormous impact” on his work once certain colors are banned.
“Because, like a painter, you suddenly lose a gigantic part of your palette” with no alternatives in sight,” he said.
And Veldhoen warned that it could get worse next year when more inks currently in use could be banned.
Tattoo shops in the EU have had a rough two years since COVID-19 hit with restrictions and lockdowns. Now they say a perfectly avoidable crisis is hitting them even harder.
“It is all rather sudden,” Veldhoen said. “There should have been a lot more preparation.”
The bloc begs to differ. It says the consultation process began in 2016 while the official regulation heralding Wednesday’s start of restrictions dates back to Dec. 14, 2020. Seven EU nations already had national restrictions.
The commission says alternatives to the banned products do exist, but tattoo parlors say they’re too slow to make their way from the manufacturers to their shops.
Angelo Bedani of Brussels’ Boucherie Moderne tattoo parlor said he had nothing to prepare with since the new inks had only become available a week ago.
On top of that “a bottle costs double compared to the one we have today.”
Considering that at least 12 percent of Europeans have tattoos, and double that number in the 18-35 age group, according to EU figures, strict health guidelines were necessary.
The EU’s chemical agency ECHA says that allergic and inflammatory skin reactions “are expected to decrease thanks to the restriction.” It adds that “more serious effects such as cancer, harm to our DNA or the reproductive system potentially originating from chemicals used in the inks could also decrease.”
Michl Dirks, who is behind a “Save the Pigments” petition which has collected 176,000 signatures in the EU objects to such conditional phrasing and insists the ban is not sufficiently backed by science, something which the EU disputes.
Erich Maehnert, co-organizer of the petition, said such bans unduly hurt the industry since people will use illegal ways to get the products from third countries.
“They continue to obtain their tattooing products without any checks and without the possibility of tracing them,” he said. Others say the small tattoo industry is easily targeted while the tobacco and alcohol industries still hold much more sway.