New tattoo law 'takes out the riffraff' operators

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New tattoo law 'takes out the riffraff' operators
July 1, 2010
By Heather J. Carlson
The Post-Bulletin

When it comes to licensing tattoo artists and their shops, Rochester Tattoo co-owner Brian Moritz is all for it.

"We have a lot of people who ask if we're licensed or not, and when we say no, they are kind of shocked there is no license," he said.

Under the old system, some Minnesota cities and counties regulate tattoo and piercing artists and some don't. For instance, in Olmsted County, home to the third largest city in the state, there are no licensing requirements. Travel 40 minutes west to Austin, population 23,000, and tattoo and body-piercing businesses are licensed.

Licensing requirements

A state law that takes effect Jan. 1, 2011, will require all tattoo and piercing artists and the businesses they work at to be licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health. Current practicing body artists will have to show they have 2,080 hours of experience within the past five years to be licensed. New applicants must have at least 200 hours of supervised experience to be licensed. To get a license, businesses will be inspected by state health department officials to make sure they meet basic health and safety standards.

Moritz welcomes the new requirements.

"It takes out the riffraff, the people who think they can tattoo just because they have a machine and the equipment and the ink and needles and don't really know anything about tattooing," he said.

Chad Iverson, owner of Ivy's Ink in Austin, agrees that statewide licensing is needed. He said he has seen plenty of people who come in with infections after getting tattoos from people who lack the proper training and experience.

"I think that is great as long as everybody complies with it. I know for a fact that people are getting tattoos out of other people's basements," Iverson said. "If I have to follow the rules and have a legitimate business, I think they should be cracking down on these people who are not following the rules."

Health concerns

If proper health and safety standards are not followed, tattoo and piercing customers are at risk of contracting bacterial infections and blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, tetanus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Kyle Renell, a staff attorney with the Minnesota Department of Health, said it is difficult to know how many people suffer complications from tattoos or piercings because when they go to the emergency room with an infection, it is usually categorized as "removal of a foreign object."

Rep. Julie Bunn, DFL-Lake Elmo, said it was the body artists who pushed for statewide licensing standards.

"Statewide it's the Wild West — it depends on where you are," she said.

Blood banks are also big backers of the standards. The American Red Cross won't allow people to donate blood if they've had a tattoo or piercing within the past year done in a state that doesn't license body artists.

Bunn said the bill is an attempt to regulate the industry without placing onerous restrictions on businesses.

"Our goal was protecting the public health, and if we couldn't be convinced that something was necessary for that, we didn't put that in the bill," she said. "So we were trying to be respectful of their traditions and also respectful of them as businesses."