Green Glossary: Eco Tattoo

You've heard of trick questions? Well, this is a trick post…because is no such thing as an eco tattoo. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved "any tattoo inks for injection into the skin, and many ink pigments used are industrial strength colors suitable for printers' ink or automobile paint."

"Heavy metals are used to give tattoo pigments their permanent color," explains Helen Suh MacIntosh at TreeHugger.com. "Certain tattoo colors may present greater health risks than others. For example, green and blue pigments produced from copper salts (Copper Pthalocyanine) are thought to be safe, as they are approved by the FDA for use in contact lenses, surgical implants, and infant furniture paint. Similarly, black pigments made from carbon black or india ink, white pigments made from zinc or titanium white, purple pigments made from dioxazine/carbazole, and brown pigments made from iron oxides are thought to be have minimal (if any) health risks. Of the colors, red pigments, especially those that contain cadmium, iron oxides or mercury (cinnabar), are generally the most worrisome."

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adds: "One of the chemicals known to be used in tattoo ink is thimerosal, also called thiomersal, an organic compound containing ethylmercury. In the US, thimerosal is commonly included in tattoo inks, vaccines, antivenins, and eye and ear products as a preservative. Due in part to mercury's toxic effects, thimerosal is very effective at killing off fungal and bacterial growth." However, mercury is a well-known neurotoxin.

"In light of these and other concerns," concludes Helen Suh MacIntosh, "it makes sense to think twice about getting a tattoo."

Those of you already inked can take solace in some eco-progress in the area of tattoo removal. As TrendHunter.com reports: "Removing tattoos with lasers is tricky business as surgeons be very cautious to ensure the skin is not overheated as that would result in scarring. The normal procedure involves using a coolant such as tetrafluoroethane which reduces skin temperature as it evaporates. Tetrafluoroethane has one unfortunate property: it contributes to greenhouse gases as it is many times worse than carbon dioxide."

An alternative removal method has been recently developed and patented John Stuart Nelson at the Beckman Laser Institute. Nelson's method uses pressurized liquid CO2 as the cooling agent. "It is delivered as a fine mist of solid dry ice particles which reduce skin temperatures before sublimating into a gaseous form," says TrendHunter.com.

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