Karnataka moves to regulate tattoo ink sales after heavy metals found in samples

Last update:March 1, 2025, 16:38 IST

The Department of Food Safety and Medicines found that tattoo salons use inks that contain around 22 different heavy metals such as selenium, chromium, platinum, arscenic, among others.

The Karnataka government has now sought the intervention of the center in the matter.

Amid the concerns about the inks used for tattoos and potential health risks, the Karnataka government is pressing so that the central government intervenes and bring a law with respect to these inks. This occurs when the Department of Food and Drug Security Administration found that tattoos halls are using inks containing around 22 different heavy metals such as selenium, chromium, platinum, arscenic, among others.

This raised the concerns about how insurance are the content of the inks, in case it flows towards the blood and the potential risks of skin diseases and other infections.

Karnataka Health Minister Diane Gundu Rao said that upon receiving complaints, inspections were carried out in the tattoos halls, on which it was discovered that the inks contained these heavy metals.

The minister said that there is currently no law to regulate the formulation of these inks and no protocol under the Indian Standards Office (BIS) that covers tattoo inks.

After this, the Karnataka government has now sought the intervention of the center in the matter, since it asked the Indian general drug controller to have knowledge of the matter and bring guidelines for the use of tattoo tattoos.

The minister said: “The Food and Drug Control Commissioner will send the letter. At this time, all kinds of materials are being used without any established protocol. These are essentially metals that are injected into the body, but do not fall under the Law of Drugs or Cosmetics. Therefore, we need to establish adequate guidelines for this. “

Location :

Karnataka, India, India