The girl with the hazard tattoo: Duma scrutinizes ‘tramp stamp’ dangers

The Russian parliament has started debating a bill making tattoo artists warn their clients about the possible dangerous consequences of getting inked. The sponsors are especially concerned about women who were getting tattoos in the small of the back.

The new bill is due to amend the Law on Consumer Rights with an article obliging all businesses to warn customers about the potential health hazards that come from their goods and services. However, the explanatory note attached to the bill concentrated entirely on tattoos for women and even more precisely – tattoos on the small of the back.

The sponsors said in the note that the small of the back is the place where doctors insert needles during epidurals and it is possible that “tattoo ink or infection that started during the tattooing but remained dormant under the skin” would get into the spinal canal causing paralysis.

Russian MPs quoted the experience of Israeli medics who never allow epidurals syringes to pass through tattoos.

Russian experts and consumer rights activists are skeptical about the new bill. The chair of the International Confederation of Consumer Rights’ Societies, Dmitry Yanin, told Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily that the current Russian laws on consumer protection needed no improvements as it already contained a requirement to warn clients about all possible safety limitations of all goods and services.

Several doctors commented to the daily that they had never heard of complications during epidurals caused by tattoos.