By Chloe Topping
In June the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) proposed its recommendation for a restriction on hazardous substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up. This is the first restriction HSE has proposed since it took on the role of regulatory agency for UK REACH at the start of 2021.
A restriction is a measure for protecting human health and/or the environment from risks posed by chemicals on their own, in mixtures or in articles. REACH restrictions limit, ban or set conditions on the manufacture, placing on the market or use of a substance or group of substances.
The next step involves the UK Environment Secretary, in consultation with Welsh and Scottish ministers, deciding whether to enact the restriction into law. If they proceed without improvements, the UK’s restriction will offer less protection than the EU restriction which has been in force since 2022. HSE’s recommendation for the restriction leaves out certain substances that the EU couldn’t rule out as posing health risks, including cancer. Regrettably, this is part of a broader trend of the UK adopting fewer and weaker protections from harmful chemicals compared to the EU, and doing so at a slower pace.
Why did the EU take action?
Tattoo inks and permanent make-up are composed of mixtures of many chemicals which are not typically manufactured explicitly for these purposes. Prior to the EU initiating a restriction via the chemicals regulation REACH, there was no specific EU wide legislation governing the composition of tattoo inks and permanent make-up.
There was therefore concern that the mixtures of chemicals used for these purposes may contain hazardous substances that cause skin allergies as well as more severe health impacts such as genetic mutations and cancer. Due to the intended permanence of tattoo inks and permanent make up, there was also concern over long term exposure to these ingredients. In the EU it is estimated that at least 12% of Europeans have a tattoo, and in the 18-35 age group it has been estimated to be twice as high. A restriction on substances used in tattoo inks and permanent make-up was therefore put forward to address these health risks.
What action was taken in the EU?
In January 2022, new EU rules kicked in, limiting the sale and use of more than 4,000 substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up. This regulation covers various aspects, such as setting maximum concentration limits for chemicals that have been classified in the EU as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, and those labelled as skin sensitisers, skin corrosives or irritants, and eye irritants or eye-damaging substances. Additionally, the regulation introduced labelling requirements. Now, mixtures for use in tattoos and permanent make up must clearly state their intended purpose on product labels.
What is HSE’s recommendation?
There is currently no legislation governing the composition of inks used in tattoo inks and permanent make-up in the UK, so HSE’s proposed restriction should greatly increase protection for UK consumers. We welcome the fact that HSE’s preferred option for a restriction has many similarities to that currently in force in the EU. For example, it also includes new labelling requirements and limits the use of chemicals classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, and as a skin sensitiser, skin corrosive or eye damaging. When substances are newly identified as having these properties, there will be an automatic concentration limit for their use in tattoo inks and permanent make-up. The EU has a similar automatic restriction on substances falling into the categories outlined in the section above. However, there are a few differences worth highlighting between the EU and UK restrictions:
- In contrast to the EU regulations, the UK went ahead with derogations (exemptions) for 19 substances for which EU experts could not rule out ‘the risk of cancer and possible non-carcinogenic hazards’.* HSE, however, did not find evidence to suggest that these pigments are unsafe for use in tattoo or permanent make-up inks. In the opinion of the HSE, derogating these pigments ‘will extend the range of colours that will be able to be supplied in GB compared with the EU’.
- HSE’s preferred restriction option differs from the EU’s in that it severs any future link between the restriction on tattoo inks and permanent make-up and the Cosmetics Products Regulation (CPR).** In the EU, as new substances are banned from use in certain cosmetics, they are restricted from use in tattoo inks and permanent make-up. This will not happen in the UK. HSE will be relying on updates to a different piece of legislation, the GB Mandatory Classification and Labelling list, to ban some of the substances in tattoo inks that the EU is banning via this automatic link with the cosmetics regulation. By HSE’s own admission, ‘there remains a possibility that on occasion, a substance which should be restricted for use in tattoo and PMU inks slips through the net.’
- The UK opted for longer transition times than the EU for formulators and suppliers of inks. (Transition times are periods where industry is allowed to continue to use restricted substances as they adapt to the new measures). Rather than a one-year transition period as proposed in the EU, HSE has suggested around two years as an adequate length. The EU’s restriction came into force in 2022 and the transition period it gave for two substances have now ended. HSE estimates a date of 2027 for UK tattoo artists and permanent make-up practitioners to be using fully compliant inks.
Chloe Topping, CHEM Trust Assistant Campaigner, said:
“Whilst we welcome the fact that HSE’s recommendation has many similarities to the EU restriction, it is disappointing and nonsensical for the restriction to be less protective for people’s health than the restriction already in place in the EU. This sets a worrying precedent as the first recommendation for restriction in the new UK REACH system.”
Read more about what we are calling for in the UK.
Explanatory notes:
*The EU restricted all 19 of these substances from use in tattoo inks and permanent make-up but gave time limited derogations (permitted use periods) for two substances, Pigment Blue 15:3 and Pigment Green 7, for which there were no safer and technically adequate alternatives available when the Regulation was adopted in 2020. The transition period for these two substances ended in January 2023. HSE’s preferred restriction option contains no restriction on the use of the same 19 substances including no time limits on their use.
**Specifically, Annex II which identifies substances prohibited for use in cosmetics, and Annex IV which contains a list of permitted colorants allowed in certain cosmetic products.
