New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed off some of his own ink when he signed his name to a new bill that will create more regulations for body piercing and tattoo professionals.

The bill, which was signed in mid-August, requires all body piercing and tattoo studios to use prepackaged and sterile single-use needles and single-use ink.

This is the first piece of New York state legislation that demands a certain standard in the products and materials used by tattoo and piercing professionals, according to the New York state website.

However, many studios have already been taking similar, if not the same, preventative measures in order to avoid spreading disease and infection, said Susan Scholl, an internship coordinator in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies and Nutrition in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

“Anytime needles are involved, you have to be very cautious,” Scholl said. “And the artists, they understand that risk.”

Scholl, who got her most recent tattoo just a few weeks earlier, said at this point she would not go to any artist that did not use single-use, prepackaged needles and ink.

“I don’t see this as prohibitive,” she said. “This may raise the price of the supplies (the studios) have to buy, but then they can just transfer that cost to the client.”

The artists at Halo Tattoo on Marshall Street use single-use disposable needles and disposable “ink caps.” The artists also all receive blood-borne pathogen training from the Red Cross, said D.J. Rose, co-owner and tattoo artist of the shop.

Joe Catanzarita, a junior geography major at Syracuse University, went to Halo Tattoo for both of his tattoos and said he was never concerned about the cross-contamination of needles or ink.

“You are only really at risk of getting any type of infection if it’s not a legitimate place,” Catanzarita said.

The biggest point of controversy with the new bill, which will take effect in December, is about the prepackaged ink.

The bill states that the ink used must be a “sealed and pre-filled package of ink that is only intended for a single use.” Tattoo artists in New York have started rallying online together this past week and petitioning Cuomo and other New York politicians to rewrite this section of the bill before it goes into effect in December.

According to the petition, these prepackaged single-use ink packets are manufactured by only a few brands and are offered in a limited palette for a steep price. It is standard for tattoo artists to purchase large bottles of ink and pour them into small, disposable plastic “ink caps” that are thrown away after the procedure, according to the petition.

The petition said the single-use ink is “impractical and unnecessary” since the standard procedure and use of ink caps is designed to eliminate the possibility of cross-contamination.

The artists at Halo Tattoo do not use the single-use prepackaged ink, but there is never an opportunity for cross-contamination because the pigment bottles never go near the work station, Rose said.

He added that throughout his 25 years of being involved in tattoo culture, going to conventions all around the U.S. and making friends who tattoo internationally, he has never even seen a single-use ink packet.

Rose said he believes there are real concerns that need to be dealt with in the tattoo community and this issue is not one of them.

“Regulating where tattoos take place, making sure they are in a shop with professionals and have them take blood pathogens training; these are important things,” Rose said.

Published on September 1, 2015 at 10:10 pm

Contact Kate: kacapoda@syr.edu