TATOO TOXICITY

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Please avoid all tattoos. They introduce toxins into the body that have no place there. In addition, they mar the appearance of the body.

The following is excerpted from an article at www.mercola.com: In 2011, a study in The British Journal of Dermatology revealed that nanoparticles are indeed found in tattoo inks,(3) with black pigments containing the smallest particles (white pigments had the largest particles and colored pigments were in between).

With the exception of the white pigments, the researchers noted that “the vast majority of the tested tattoo inks contained significant amounts” of nanoparticles. “The black pigments were almost pure NPs [nanoparticles], i.e. particles with at least one dimension <100 nm,” they said.

Black-Ink Tattoos May be the Riskiest

The black ink is the color most often linked to potential adverse health effects, although all tattoo inks have toxic potential, including:

• Potentially carcinogenic(4)

• May cause inflammation and DNA damage(5)

• May contain carcinogenic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) like benzo(a)pyrene (a Class 1 carcinogen according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer).

• Since black ink may contain a significant amount of nanoparticles, it is likely that such toxins could find easy entrance into your bloodstream, perhaps worsening their effects.

Writing in Experimental Dermatology, researchers highlighted the dangerous potential of tattoo inks (particularly black) even beyond nanoparticles(6)

“Black tattoo inks are usually based on soot, are not regulated and may contain hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Part of PAHs possibly stay lifelong in skin, absorb UV radiation and generate singlet oxygen, which may affect skin integrity.

… Tattooing with black inks entails an injection of substantial amounts of phenol and PAHs into skin. Most of these PAHs are carcinogenic and may additionally generate deleterious singlet oxygen inside the dermis when skin is exposed to UVA (e.g. solar radiation).”

While so far incidences of skin cancer appearing on tattooed skin has been deemed coincidental,(7) it is largely unknown whether the inks may be contributing to cancers, or other health problems, elsewhere in the body. It’s known, for instance, that some tattoo pigment may migrate from your skin into your body’s lymph nodes.(8)

According to Dr. Samuel Epstein, a well-respected professional in cancer prevention:

“… the evidence which we’ve accumulated so far, is largely restricted to the fact that they [nanoparticles] get into your bloodstream and reach organs throughout your body. And as far as the brain is concerned, we have actual evidence of entry into the brain and producing toxic effects -- lesions, small lesions, toxic effects in the brain.”

For the whole article about tattoos from which the above was borrowed, click on:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/20/nanoparticles-tattoo-ink.aspx?e_cid=20131120Z1_DNL_art_2&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art2&utm_campaign=20131120Z1&et_cid=DM33810&et_rid=342914767

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