Arizona tattoo artists calling for more regulations

The tattoo industry has rode through the recession nearly unscathed and that is tempting many amateur tattoo artists to offer their services out of their home or car and professional tattooers are calling on Maricopa County and the state to pass tougher regulations.

"I've talked to other artists that don't even have a clue about disease control or disease prevention. They just open a shop or do it out of their house and they don't care," said Vinny Sky of Blue Dragon Tattoo in Glendale.

Tattooing out of a car or home is a Class Six felony in Arizona and can endanger the public.

"He didn't change out his needles or tubes or inks and he just kept tattooing people one after the other and he gave out five cases of mono," Sky said of an unnamed artist he spoke with who worked from his car.

Mono is the least of a customer's worries if they look for tattoos from a possibly unsanitary source. Other blood diseases, such as hepatitis and syphilis, could be passed on as well, Sky said.

Sky pushed Coconino County to pass regulations on tattooing and even helped to write them a decade ago. Coconino is currently the only county in the state that regulates tattoo shops and artists. He is pushing Maricopa County to become the second.

"There's too many tattoo shops, too many people who think they can do tattoos and too many people who think that it's OK to get something done somewhere else," Sky said of why Maricopa County needs regulations.

Sky may meet some opposition from the Arizona Department of Health, who said that the explosion of body artwork has not lead to an explosion in blood-borne diseases.

"But that doesn't mean it's not happening," said Arizona Health Director Will Humble, who also said that tattoo regulations are "not in the top 100" concerns for the state and that it would come down to individual counties to pass tattoo regulations.

"At this point, it's really up to local jurisdictions to decide if they really want to go above and beyond [to pass tattooing regulations]," Humble said.