Determination of Heavy Metals in Tattoo Ink

Kimia Eghbali¹, Zahra Mousavi² and Parisa Ziarati³*

¹Pharmacy School, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAUPS), Tehran, Iran. ²Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, (IAUPS), Tehran, Iran. ³ Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University (IAUPS), Tehran, Iran.

ABSTRACT: In recent years, tattoos have become very popular worldwide and millions of people have black or colored tattoos. Despite the increasing number of tattooed individuals, presently there are few requirements, legislation and criteria for the safety of tattoos and permanent make-up. The aim of the survey is to assess whether the common or commercially purchased tattoo permanent inks in Iran market comply with maximum concentrations of heavy metals in the EPA’s guidelines and find out the relation of colours by Zinc, Lead and Cadmium contents. 100 samples of 12 different permanent make –up ink tattoo brands in different available colours were randomly purchased from cosmetic stores and market in Tehran in main seven colours.: black, White ,yellow, brown ,red ,green and brown. Lead, Cadmium and Zinc contents were analysed by a Flame Emission Spectrophotometer. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done on each brand of tattoo ink to find out if there is significant variation in the concentrations of heavy metals in different colours of each brand. This result reveals that the type of pigment used in tattoo inks contributes to its heavy metal content. All the tattoo ink samples monitored in this study contained detectable contents of lead and cadmium. Cadmium contents in all group colours in Chinese and USA brands ( probably fake brands) samples was much higher than maximum limited 0.2 mg/kg set by EPA and the highest one related to white colour 2.1473 mg/kg. In black and white colour the highest and lowest level of lead were observed respectively. White , yellow and orange ink samples showed the highest level of zinc content, while all samples had less content of this metal comparing by Maximum concentrations of zinc 50 mg/kg in tattoo and permanent make-up substances given in the EPA’s Guidelines in 2012.

KEYWORDS: Tattoo ink; Heavy metals; Cadmium; Pigment; Colour

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