ATTENTION NYS TATTOO ARTISTS AND SHOPS!

New laws have been passed in NY effective December 12th that will require the used of single use prepackaged ink cups instead of the usual disposable ink caps.

EXERCISE YOUR RIGHTS! CONTACT YOUR LAWMAKERS!

SIGN THE PETITION! SHARE WITH OTHER TATTOO ARTISTS

To: Senator Carlucci, NYS Department of Health, Governor Cuomo, Assemblyman Zebrowski and whomever else it may concern,

This petition is regarding the wording on the new tattoo laws that were passed, bill S1421-2015. The wording regarding single use inks is complicated and may lead to completely unnecessary and expensive measures.

The new bill (http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/s1421-2015) defines "SINGLE USE INK" SHALL MEAN A SEALED AND PRE-FILLED PACKAGE OF INK THAT IS ONLY INTENDED FOR A SINGLE USE”

The standard procedure by any properly trained tattoo artist involves purchasing large bottles of inks, and pouring them into small plastic, single use, disposable “ink caps”, just enough for the procedure, which are thrown away during clean up. The original large bottle is to be stored away from the client and the work station, and therefore away from any possibility of contamination.

The way the law reads now, would not work with these proven safe, common-practice procedures. They have single use, prepackaged inks, but they are incredibly expensive and not offered by any of the better quality brands of ink (really just a couple brands), and only available in a limited palette. For many artists, switching to a lesser-quality ink, is just not an option. For permanent makeup pigments (which is very much tattooing as well) there are no brands packaged for single use. These single-use inks, are impractical and unnecessary, since standard precautions are designed to eliminate the possibility of cross-contamination.

We would like to propose that better wording would be something that specifies that pigments are required to be poured into single use disposable receptacles aka ink caps.

Example: "single use ink" shall mean all inks are poured into disposable single use containers, and disposed of after each procedure.

The key to safe tattooing is annual education requirements, teaching artists in the industry to use universal precautions and learn the newest and best practices to prevent cross-contamination and prevent the spread of dangerous infectious diseases. This is already a requirement through federal OSHA laws, which many other states have chosen to reiterate.

Rewrite NYS BILL S1421-2015 before it goes into effect!