Teenagers are putting themselves at risk of debilitating and potentially deadly blood diseases by buying DIY tattoo kits over the internet. At £60 a time, the kits come with inks, needles and designs but there are no controls over age of the recipient, infectious diseases, or cleanliness. Children have caught hepatitis from such kits, which are cheaper than visiting a professional, particularly if used several times.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) sounded the alarm after carrying out an investigation into tattooing trends and practise. Professional parlours are legally required not to tattoo anyone under 18 and are licensed and inspected by local authorities. By contrast, Chinese-made kits often have no instructions.

Julie Barratt, the CIEH director, said: “The age of consent goes out the window. You are not going to ask questions about health. You could be tattooing your mates all in one go and passing on infections. You also cannot trace people if anything goes wrong. You wouldn’t do this with anything else – you can’t stroll into Boots and buy a needle.”

Unsafe tattooing – without health screening and cleanliness – risks spreading HIV/Aids and hepatitis. In Llanelli, south Wales, in 2008, teenagers as young as 14 using DIY kits found that their tattoos becoming infected and Several contracted hepatitis.  MORE>>>

Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival

When: March 11th – 13th 2011

Where: Chattanooga Marriott Hotel at the Convention Center

2 Carter Plaza, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402

Phone: 423-756-0002 Continued…

It’s 1945, and you want a tattoo. You drive to the part of town your mom warned you about, past scruffy bars and burlesque shows, and arrive at a tiny shop offering maybe 200 designs in three or four colors. An ex-sailor who just clocked out of his day job rinses off his tattoo machine. Five minutes and $2 later, your arm bears a patriotic eagle – a nifty example of Traditional American artwork, although no one will call it that for decades.

Now it’s 2011 and you want a tattoo. You comb through online portfolios to choose an artist and call to discuss the design and book an appointment. When the day arrives, you drive to the funky-hip part of town. In a private room, the gloved artist unwraps sanitized equipment and chooses from dozens of colors of vegan-friendly ink. Six hours and $1,000 later, you’re wearing a custom piece of art – possibly in the retro-cool style of Traditional American. Continued…

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – Police have arrested a woman accused of driving her car into a tattoo shop early Tuesday after she was turned away for being too drunk.

Police say 50-year-old Marie Reeves (also known as Marie French) went to Club 21 on south Shelby and Burnett Avenue during the evening hours of Jan. 24.

Investigators say Reeves and another person left the club around 1 a.m. Tuesday and then walked across the street to a tattoo shop.

An employee inside the store told Reeves and her friend they were too intoxicated to get inked and asked them to leave.

That’s when police say the pair got into Reeves’ car and rammed it into the store’s front entrance before driving away.   MORE>>>

PALESTINE – A complaint from the mother of a 14-year-old girl who was able to get two tattoos resulted in a clandestine tattoo parlor being shut down, three people being arrested and a 9-year-old child being removed from the home of the tattoo artist.

Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor said the investigation into the tattoo parlor in the 2300 block of U.S. Highway 84 outside of Palestine was spurred by a complaint from a mother.

“The woman said she learned her 14-year-old daughter had gotten a couple of tattoos at the location so we obtained an arrest warrant for the individual who did the tattoos and a search warrant for the location,” he said.

A SWAT team conducted the no-knock warrant at the location, meaning they busted in the door and entered the home, about 8 a.m. Wednesday and not only found tattooing equipment, but illegal narcotics.   MORE>>>