1. In A Blink By The Glass Pyramids // 2. The Perfect Drug By Nine Inch Nails // 3. Captive Normals (A

1. In a Blink by The Glass Pyramids // 2. The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails // 3. Captive Normals (A Fever Dream) by The Glass Pyramids // 4. The Beacon by The Glass Pyramid // 5. What Do They Know? By Mindless Self Indulgent // etc.

I hate this so much.

The state of Georgia did what with voter registrations?!

this study is really interesting. the long story short is that even one tattoo might raise your risk for lymphoma, which is a type of cancer.

right now, in many places around the world, there is little to no regulation on tattoo ink. even if a tattoo places follows every single applicable local law, there are just not necessarily a lot of laws to follow.

in the united states for example (I live here! so I took a look at local laws.), there are no federal regulations for tattoo ink, and tattoo inks are not inspected by the food and drug administration (FDA) because they are considered purely cosmetic. investigations are reliant entirely on issues getting reported.

just like many supplements wind up getting away with unlisted, contaminated, and/or dangerous ingredients until someone reports a serious problem, the same can apply to tattoo inks. and in the case of conditions that do not show up immediately like cancer, not many people would even consider their tattoo to have been a factor in getting sick.

to my understanding, sweden, where this study took place, has more tattoo regulations than the united states. (even though many of those regulations are fairly recent.) (if you know a lot about swedish tattoo laws, give a shout!)

so it is unclear how much of the risk comes from ink made up of specific certain ingredients, contaminated inks, technique, where the tattoo was done, or just the fact that you are introducing a ton of tiny foreign particles into your body, which impacts the immune system.

in the future, doctors might recommend against people at high risk for lymphoma from getting tattoos. this includes people with weakened immune systems, autoimmune diseases, epstein-barr virus infection, and people with a family history of lymphoma.

interestingly, more tattoos/larger tattooed area ≠ necessarily higher risk of lymphoma. based on this study's conclusion, just being tattooed at all might raise someone's risk of developing lymphoma.

and what stuck out most to me is: tattoo removal raises the risk of getting cancer even more than just getting a tattoo and leaving it there.

but most importantly, the conclusion of this study is that there needs to be more medical studies on the long-term risks associated with tattoos. this was just one single study, and there need to be more in the future to get a better picture of how tattoos and how different ink compositions affect the body.

sciencedirect.com

Tattoos as a risk factor for malignant lymphoma: a population-based case–control study

The popularity of tattoos has increased dramatically over the last few decades. Tattoo ink often contains carcinogenic chemicals, e.g., prim

this post is not a comprehensive summary and is just more of an overview, so check out the actual study for more details. and there are way more details! regardless of future results, this study has helped bring attention to the lack of regulation of tattoo inks around the world.

if you are at high risk for lymphoma for whatever reason, consider keeping this topic on your radar.

“My body, my choice” only makes sense when someone else’s life isn’t at stake.