Hazardous substances in tattoo inks still exceed EU limits, Swedish agency warns

Tattoo inks still contain potentially carcinogenic and allergenic substances in forbidden concentrations despite the introduction of an EU regulation in January 2022, according to an analysis by the Swedish Medical Products Agency.

Decorating your skin, or maybe your mucous membranes or eyes, with an emerald-coloured, blue or red tattoo is becoming increasingly popular in Europe.

In Sweden, one in five adults has one or more tattoos, according to Swedish researchers. They are concerned that tattooed people may be exposed to pigments that contain impurities from the manufacturing process and degradation products that might cause cancer or other health problems.

In 2017, a German study from autopsies also showed that lymph glands near tattoos could take on the same colour.

But even though there are strong suspicions of a link, scientists still have to clearly establish if tattoo ink actually causes cancer.

An EU regulation restricting thousands of hazardous chemicals in inks entered into force for the first time on 4 January 2022.

In order to make the inks safe, concentration limits for the chemicals have been set, as well as specific rules on the declaration of content and labelling of the products. The rules apply to suppliers placing the products on the market, as well as to tattoo artists using the inks.

Six months after the new rules came into force, the Swedish Medical Products Agency began randomly collecting tattoo ink samples from Swedish-based companies and marketplaces to analyse the contents.

Their report, presented this autumn, shows that almost half of the 46 inks tested contained excessive levels of contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and/or heavy metals such as arsenic, antimony, cobalt, lead and nickel, including substances that can be carcinogenic or allergenic.

Those results aligned with what the agency had seen in previous years.

“We haven’t seen any improvements despite the introduction of the EU regulation. So, this is very serious. Companies working with tattoo inks must improve their regulatory responsibilities”, Elmira Tavoosi, a senior assessor at the agency, told Euractiv.

She mentioned that inks are often imported in bottles from the US or Asia but are also manufactured in Europe.

“In our national register, we now have around 2,350 inks, which in theory should correspond to the number of inks that are professionally manufactured in Sweden or brought into Sweden for professional use, but the actual number of inks is probably higher,” she said.

The agency will present the results to an EU working group in a few weeks. Following the Swedish agency’s intervention, 21 of the inks tested have been taken off the market, according to Tavoosi.

In 96% of the cases tested, the inks also failed to comply with EU’s and Swedish labelling rules.

“For example, we found a non-valid or false ‘REACH-compliant’ mark on several products”, Tavoosi said. This is even though inks cannot be pre-approved by the EU.

Researching the link between tattoos and cancer

Meanwhile, researchers at Lund University in southern Sweden are trying to establish whether there is a causal link between the prevalence of cancer and tattoos. This registry-based study is supported by research funds from Sweden and the EU.

“We have come a long way in our research, and the results will be published in a few months,” project leader Christel Nielsen, a researcher in environmental epidemiology, told Euractiv.

In the study, 36,000 adults in Sweden between the age of 20 and 60 were asked if they had tattoos, how many and how big they were. Of these people, 9,000 had either skin cancer (malignant melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma) or lymphoma.

Their tattoo status was then compared with that of 27,000 people in a control cohort from the general population.

“We were interested to see if there was an increased risk of cancer among people who had tattoos. Now we know, but I am afraid I can’t disclose any results before the publication, Nielsen said.

She also told Euractiv there is a considerable lack of research in the area. More is desperately needed, given the enormous human exposure to potentially dangerous chemicals.

“People are worried whether their tattoos are harmful. At least once a week, I get a phone call from someone who wants answers”.

But things are moving. After the Swedish research began in 2020, a clinic for patients with complications from tattoos, such as skin problems, at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam got in touch with the Swedish scientists.

Now, they are on their way to apply for joint research funding.

(Monica Kleja – Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi/Zoran Radosavljevic | Euractiv.com)

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