A significant growth of scientific studies over the past two decades about the possible effects of tattooing on human health has raised questions about the regulation of the market, writes George Claassen for News24, who wonders whether whether the media should be giving more exposure to the issue.
Claassen writes:
A reader recently asked me why the media was silent about the potential dangers of tattoos to human health – a fair question.
It reminded me of the lengthy period it took before the link between smoking and cancer was accepted, when scientific evidence had become so overwhelming that, despite the tobacco industry’s immense, unethical pressure, public health authorities at last started acting.
In the campaigns, the media was also used by tobacco companies – with so-called scientists trying to refute the growing evidence of the direct link between smoking, cancer and other illnesses.
More latterly, in science circles, urgent warnings are ringing that more studies should be directed at investigating the link between cancer – specifically lymphoma and certain skin cancers – and tattoos.
Heavy metals
A study published in December 2024 in the peer-reviewed science journal Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology advised that “it is necessary to create a general regulatory framework regarding tattoos”.
The scientists from the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Haematology at the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Institute of Public Health’s division for toxicology referred to tattooing as becoming a “popular global trend in industrialised countries, with the highest prevalence rates of up to 30%-40% in the adult population under 40 years”.
“Common tattoo inks may contain heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and primary aromatic amines, toxic if exceeding permissible limits,” they wrote. “It is estimated that about 14.36 mg of ink is injected per cm2 of skin, at a depth of 1mm-3mm. The injected pigment is internalised by neutrophils, fibroblasts, and macrophages or dendritic cells.
“About 60%-90% of the pigment is then transported to the lymph nodes via the lymphatic system and to other organs, such as the liver, spleen, and lung, through blood. Adverse reactions can be immediate (irritation, infection, inflammation of the skin), delayed (hypersensitivity reactions), and can result in long-term complications (fibrosis, granulomatous changes, systemic inflammation, and sometimes malignant diseases such as lymphoma).”
Increased risk
Also published in 2024, a study by Swedish scientists at Lund University’s oncology and occupational and environmental departments suggested that tattoo exposure was associated with an increased risk of malignant lymphoma.
The scientists warned in The Lancet’s peer-reviewed eClinicalMedicine that “more epidemiologic research is urgently needed to establish causality”.
The latest research in this field, representing the most extensive study to date, was conducted by 20 European scientists from Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic and France. It was published six months ago in the online science journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States). It studied the effect of tattoo ink on the immune response and raised “serious health concerns associated with the tattooing practice”.
The scientists warned that their research underscored “the need for further research to inform public health policies and regulatory frameworks regarding the safety of tattoo inks”.
“Considering the unstoppable trend of tattooing in the population, our results are crucial in informing the toxicology programmes, policymakers, and the general public regarding the potential risk of the tattooing practice associated with an altered immune response.”
It is clear from these studies that more tumours occur in individuals with tattoos, and that lymphoma and skin cancers are far more prevalent among those with tattoos. It is in the interest of public health that more research should be directed at the potential harmful effects tattooing may have on society.
The media played a very important role in putting in the public eye the harmful effects of the tobacco industry and smoking on public health when the industry used aberrant scientists to manipulate the message about its dangerous cancerous effects.
The complainant to News24 may have a point arguing that the media should give more exposure to what scientists are discovering about the potential harmful affects of tattoos on public health.
The South African Press Code emphasises in its preamble that the “media exist to serve society” and that the “media’s work is guided at all times by the public interest, understood to describe information of legitimate interest or importance to citizens”.
George Claassen is News24’s public editor and an award-winning science reporter
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Experts unpack potential cancer risk of tattoo ink
EU seeks to restrict chemicals in tattoo inks over cancer fears