Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Interesting side note - EU is banning tattoo colors

NaK - 1-11-2021 at 09:51

REACH has reached a new level: now they are banning over 4000 ingredients in tattoo colors, including two very important pigments that are non-toxic and used for years without any issues. The industry says there are no replacements available so they'll need to develop new ones nobody knows anything about at all.

Those fuckers are mad. There are not many things that make you envy UK citizens but not having to deal with stupid EU regulations is definitely up there.

https://www.expaturm.com/german-lifestyle/eu-bans-tattoo-ink...

unionised - 1-11-2021 at 10:40

That's an interesting way to announce that an industry has been injecting people for years using chemicals where there is no record of safety testing.

Is barium sulphate exempted?

RustyShackleford - 1-11-2021 at 10:48

here is the list of chemicals that are affected.
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELE...

Fulmen - 1-11-2021 at 11:28

I'm with unionsed. Most people get the tattoos under the assumption that it's safe.

Allergic reactions is a very real risk:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32768611/

[Edited on 1-11-21 by Fulmen]

unionised - 1-11-2021 at 11:52

In summary...
"Substances falling within one or more of the
following points:
(a) substances classified as any of the following in Part 3 of Annex VI to Regulation
(EC) No 1272/2008:
— carcinogen category 1A, 1B or 2, or
germ cell mutagen category 1A, 1B or
2, but excluding any such substances
classified due to effects only following
exposure by inhalation
— reproductive toxicant category 1A,
1B or 2 but excluding any such substances classified due to effects only
following exposure by inhalation
— skin sensitiser category 1, 1A or 1B
— skin corrosive category 1, 1A, 1B or
1C or skin irritant category 2
— serious eye damage category 1 or eye
irritant category 2

Shall not be placed on the market in mixtures for use for tattooing
purposes, and mixtures containing any such substances shall not
be used for tattooing purposes, after 4 January 2022


In what way(s) is that a bad thing?

unionised - 1-11-2021 at 11:56

Quote: Originally posted by NaK  


Those fuckers are mad. There are not many things that make you envy UK citizens but not having to deal with stupid EU regulations is definitely up there.

The relevant UK legislation is exactly the same but with "Europe" crossed out and "Britain" written on in crayon.
Our manufacturers are likely to end up filling in both sets of paperwork.
This is called "taking back control".

Belowzero - 1-11-2021 at 22:07

Quote: Originally posted by NaK  
There are not many things that make you envy UK citizens but not having to deal with stupid EU regulations is definitely up there.



There are and there will be, they dodged a bullet, a whole truckload of bullets.
We will continue down this path until we hit a wall.

macckone - 4-11-2021 at 09:43

The two common colors are green 7 and blue 15:3.
They are delaying banning those.
Industry has time to test those otherwise they can reasonably be assumed to be endocrin disruptors as they are phthalate derivates.

The rest is stuff that are known irritants or carcinogens.
The two colors are likely not to cause much issue since they are really insoluble which is pretty much what you need for tatoo ink. Something with extremely low solubility in both polar and non-polar solvents.

Fyndium - 27-12-2021 at 02:41

I don't fully see these as a negative things, although it should be in the decision of people what to put in their mouth or stick to their skin in the end.

However, saying that anyone would be envious to UK people would be highly exaggerated. That country has been notorious for banning everything and anything, and now that they are off the Union, they can not just simply order the stuff from other countries.

As long as any crap is not banned per se, but in context, everything's fine. For example, banning mercury in consumer and industrial products is a good thing because it prevents from using it in any production phase for the safety of the workers or contaminating people. Many industries have had bad long term track record and the attitude has been mostly "you just have to deal with it" when you get leukemia or CNS related illnesses in later age. As long as it's still available as a research chemical for laboratory use, we'll be fine. Also, the exposure from occasional lab work is much, much smaller than +8h shifts in industry where stuff is handled by the ton, year after year.

Fyndium - 29-5-2022 at 12:21

For the record,


Quote: Originally posted by unionised  

Shall not be placed on the market in mixtures for use for tattooing
purposes


This is all you need to read. Distributing those substances for non-tattooing purposes is not a problem.