Overview
This page is a scaffolded entry for HMTc Taxonomy v2.0 Category 13 (Cosmetics and Personal Care — Leave-on), Row 14: Tattoo inks (permanent and temporary). Studies for this row are still being read. Where a section is empty, the row has not yet accumulated contributing sources of the required kind.
Literature scope
The Heavy Metal Index source corpus is currently focused on food and food-contact materials. This page documents an HMTc Taxonomy v2.0 row in the category Cosmetics and Personal Care — Leave-on for which no peer-reviewed primary or government sources have yet been ingested. The page exists as the routing destination for future ingest. Until sources land, the literature-evidence sections below are deliberately empty rather than guessed; HMTc certification thresholds for products in this row continue to be developed under the certification program at heavymetalcertified.com, not on this public page.
Reading guide
Legal, regulatory and retailer teams can use the cited measurements, applicable limits and study limitations to assess the evidence for this category.
Quality teams can examine product form, measurement basis and sources of variation. Journalists and researchers can follow each reference to the original findings and methods.
Related tools and pages: heavymetalcertified.com · methodology
Evidence summary
Sources for this row will be listed here once they are catalogued.
Source Evidence Inventory
Sources for this row will be listed here once they are catalogued.
Supporting evidence and scope
Broader-scope sources for this row will be listed here when they are catalogued.
Federal/Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings
Regulatory limits for this row will be listed here once they are catalogued.
Controls and mitigation
Practical interventions to reduce heavy-metal load in this row, ordered by impact magnitude. Each lever names the magnitude of the effect with a cited source; cross-links to dedicated Mitigation pages where they exist.
- Sourcing levers — Not yet catalogued.
- Agronomic levers — Not yet catalogued. (See Agronomic mitigation for general agronomic mitigation context.)
- Processing levers — Not yet catalogued. (See Processing mitigation.)
- Formulation levers — Not yet catalogued. (See Formulation mitigation.)
- Testing and QC levers — Not yet catalogued. (See Testing and quality-control mitigation when published.)
- Packaging and storage levers — Not yet catalogued. (See Packaging and storage mitigation when published.)
How standards math uses this page
HMT&C certification thresholds for this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetalcertified.com, not on this page. The row-standard for this row is an aggregate computed from the contributing source pool in the row’s native finished-product basis; it is not a per-source decoration of any single value cited on this page. This public page reports literature evidence only.
Historical recalls and enforcement
Public regulatory events for this row, such as recalls and import alerts, will be listed here as they are catalogued.
Methodology
This page reports what the cited sources say about heavy-metal concentrations in tattoo inks (permanent and temporary). Speciation is non-substitutable (iAs vs tAs, MeHg vs tHg, Cr-VI vs total Cr). Basis is preserved (finished-product as sold unless the source specifies otherwise; see each row for the basis label). Non-detect handling follows each source’s reporting convention. Pooling is avoided across LOD/LOQ, period, geography, and analytical-basis differences. HMT&C certification thresholds for products in this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetalcertified.com, not on this page; this public page reports literature evidence only.
The applicable regulatory jurisdictions for this row are: FDA cosmetics, EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009.
Sources
Sources for this row will be listed here once they are catalogued.
Sources
Source records associated with this topic. Inclusion does not establish that every finding applies to this product or ingredient. References above identify works cited in the text.
| # | Citation | Year | Type | Used on this page for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cwielag-Drabek et al. 2025. Heavy Metal Content in Tattoo and Permanent Makeup Inks and European Standards-Is There Still a Health Risk?, Toxics | 2025 | Peer-reviewed | EU Pb, Cd, Zn, Cr, Cr-VI, Ni, Cu, iAs, Co, Sb, Se, Mn, tHg occurrence in Commercial tattoo inks, permanent makeup inks, and dual-use inks purchased in the European Union in 2022-2023 (n=41) |
| 2 | Hardy 2025. Substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up: restriction decision, UK REACH restriction decision report, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 2025 | Government report | GB Ni, Cr-VI occurrence in UK REACH regulatory decision for tattoo inks and permanent make-up, drawing on the Health and Safety Executive Agency… |
| 3 | CIRS – C&K Testing (Hangzhou C&K Testing Technic Co. 2023. REACH ANNEX XVII — Restrictions on the Manufacture, Placing on the Market and Use of Certain Dangerous Substances, Mixtures and Articles, CIRS – C&K Testing (Hangzhou C&K Testing Technic Co., Ltd), Hangzhou, China; downloadable consolidated reproduction of Annex XVII to EU REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006; document header states ‘Last update: 2023-07-17’. 64 pages, two-column ‘Column 1 (substance or group) / Column 2 (conditions of restriction)’ tabular layout reproducing entries 1 through 77. | 2023 | Industry | EU Pb, Cd, tHg, iHg, Cr-VI, Ni, tAs, Sn occurrence in Not a primary-measurement study. The document is a third-party reproduction of Annex XVII to EU REACH Regulation (EC)… |
| 4 | Gautam 2023. Health Risk Assessment: Heavy Metals (Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Cadmium, Chromium, Lead, Mercury, and Nickel) in Tattoo Ink (Intra-Dermal Contact), Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR) client report FW23035, prepared for Manatu Hauora/Te Whatu Ora | 2023 | Government report | NZ/EU/US Ba, Pb, Ni, Cr-VI, tHg, Cd, Sb, tAs occurrence in Agency health-risk assessment using maximum tattoo-ink metal concentrations selected from the 2012 New Zealand Ministry of Health survey… (n=169) |
| 5 | Zafarzadeh et al. 2018. Assessment of cadmium and lead concentrations in different types of cosmetics products consumed in Iran, National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology 8(8):1200-1204 | 2018 | Peer-reviewed | IR/CN/TR Cd, Pb occurrence in 264 cosmetic products purchased from shops in Gorgan, Iran from September 2016 to March 2017: 24 samples each… (n=264) |
| 6 | Piccinini et al. 2016. Safety of tattoos and permanent make-up. Final report, JRC Science for Policy report EUR 27947 EN, JRC101601; prepared for DG JUST under Administrative Arrangement N. 2014-33617 | 2016 | Government report | EU/CH/DE tAs, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cr-VI, Cu, tHg, Ni, Pb, Se, Sb, Sn, Zn occurrence in JRC synthesis of RAPEX notifications and national tattoo/permanent-make-up ink surveillance: 126 RAPEX alerts for tattoo/PMU inks through 2015… |
Update history
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