Chemical analysis of hazardous substances in permanent tattoo inks available on the market

Sammanfattning: As permanent tattoos are becoming more popular and common, an increased number of allergic reactions to tattoos is reported. The purpose of this project was to analyze tattoo inks for hazardous substances, and whether they comply to current Swedish and European legislative requirements. The tattoo inks were qualitatively analyzed for pigments, and quantitatively analyzed for metals. A total of 73 tattoo inks were collected from various sources such as a tattoo ink supplier, online retailers, and provided directly from tattoo artists. The labels of each tattoo ink bottle were inspected to investigate their compliance with the Council of Europe and the Swedish Medical Products Agency. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) was used to qualitatively analyze 20 selected tattoo inks for different pigments. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to quantitatively analyze trace metals in 70 of the samples. A large majority (90%) of the tested samples violated the requirements and criteria in the European resolution ResAP 2008(1), such as information on name and address of the manufacturer, minimum date of durability, sterility, batch number, and storage. Patch and allergy testing were incorrectly recommended for many samples in a way that is not accepted by dermatologists. In a worst-case scenario, this testing could be a sensitizing step. Also, it can not prevent future allergic reactions from occurring or provide any juridical insurance. Only one brand, World Famous, fulfilled the requirements for labeling for six of the seven samples (one sample failed due to a faulty declared pigment). The brands Tang Dragon and Dynamic did not fulfill any of the requirements listed in ResAP 2008(1). The list of ingredients was incorrect for all samples from Tang Dragon (bought prior to 2019 online). Also, six of the other 50 samples from different brands (World Famous, Intenze, Fusion Tattoo Ink, Eternal Ink, Solid Ink) declared at least one pigment incorrectly in their ingredients list. 25% of the declared and theoretically detectable pigments were detected by means of MALDI-ToF-MS, whereas the other pigments were either absent or below the limit of detection. Future analyses should include an MS/MS analysis. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was identified qualatively in 15 of the 20 samples analyzed with MALDI-ToF-MS but was not listed in any of the ingredients lists. ICP-QQQ-MS is a very sensitive technique and could both detect and verify the presence of all metal-containing pigments, as well as the level of impurities. Copper was clearly more present in green and blue colors, regardless of the brand. The metal content was evidently dependent on the brand for arsenic, aluminum, bismuth, chromium, nickel, zinc, and strontium. Elevated levels of barium and strontium (partially very high levels: up to 727 mg/kg barium and up to 8.06 g/kg strontium) were found in several samples. High amounts of aluminum (4 to 11,0 g/kg) and titanium (as judged from white precipitates and ingredients lists) were present in most samples. Nickel (0.1 to 41 mg/kg) and chromium (0.1 to 139 mg/kg) were also present in the samples. Some other impurities were also present (arsenic – 3.8 mg/kg, mercury – 1.6 mg/kg, and lead – 5.4 mg/kg for one sample, respectively). Known sensitizing pigments were declared and partially confirmed by MALDI-ToF-MS in 17 of 53 samples of the brands Radiant Colour, Eternal Ink, Fusion Tattoo Ink, and Kuro Sumi. Four samples (from Intenze, Eternal Ink, and Kuro Sumi) also declared pigments listed as non-suitable substance according to the European Commission regulation on cosmetic products from 2009.