Survey of chemical substances in consumer products no. 116, 2012
In 2010, it was estimated that 13% of the Danish adult population has one or more permanent tattoos. Today, no special regulation exists concerning which chemical substances may be used for tattoos. Tattoo inks are chemical products that are covered by the Product Safety Act as well as by REACH.
65 inks were analysed. A number of the substances identified in the project, such as lead, nickel, cadmium, PAH, aniline and o-anisidine have however very low DN(M)EL values for systemic effects. In the appendix The Danish Environmental Protection Agency concludes that the DMEL value for some of the substances may be exceeded and thus pose an unacceptable increase in risk of cancer.