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The Food Safety and Drugs Administration Department found tattoo parlours to be using inks containing around 22 different heavy metals like Selenium, Chromium, Platinum, Arscenic, among others.
The Karnataka government has now sought Centre’s intervention in the matter.
Amid concerns over inks used for tattoos and the potential health risks, the Karnataka government is pushing for the Central government to intervene and bring in a law regarding these inks. This comes as the Food Safety and Drugs Administration Department found tattoo parlours to be using inks containing around 22 different heavy metals like Selenium, Chromium, Platinum, Arscenic, among others.
This raised concerns as to how safe the contents of the inks are, in case it flows into the blood, and the potential risks of skin diseases and other infections.
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that upon receiving complaints, inspections were conducted at tattoo parlours, upon which it was found out that inks contained these heavy metals.
The Minister said that at present there is no law to regulate the formulation of these inks and no protocol under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) that covers tattoo inks.
Following this, the Karnataka government has now sought Centre’s intervention in the matter as it asked the Drugs Controller General of India to take cognizance of the matter and bring in guidelines for the usage of tattoo inks.
The minister said, “The Food and Drug Control Commissioner will be sending the letter. Right now, all kinds of materials are being used without any set protocol. These are essentially metals being injected into the body, but they do not fall under the Drugs or Cosmetics Act. So, we need to establish proper guidelines for this.”
- Location :
Karnataka, India, India
