I guess the tat's out

[FussyPucker]

Warning over tattoo chemicals


There is concern over the chemicals used in tattooing
The European Commission is calling for more controls over the potentially toxic chemicals used in tattoos.
Body decoration, in the form of tattoos and body piercing, are becoming increasingly popular.

But both have been linked to a number of infectious diseases including hepatitis, HIV toxic shock syndrome, TB and leprosy.

The Commission says initial studies suggest better controls are needed in the industry to monitor what chemicals and materials are being used.

" If people want to tattoo or pierce their bodies, we would like them to do so with proper health and safety guarantees "

- Philippic Bustling, European Research Commissioner

It says many chemicals used in tattooing are industrial pigments originally produced for use in car paints and writing inks, and there is little or no safety data to support their use on human skin.

And the Commission warns that up to half of piercings can lead to acute infections which require treatment.

Two deaths after piercing have been reported in Europe this year.

Hazards

The Commission is working with the Council of Europe on a new safety resolution.

It will look at whether regulations on the sterility of needles and the use of gloves need to be extended to cover materials, dyes and colours.

Philippic Bustling, European Research Commissioner, said: "If people want to tattoo or pierce their bodies, we would like them to do so with proper health and safety guarantees.

"I hope the results from our EU research will raise awareness of the hazards associated with this practice and encourage practitioners in the tattooing profession to respect safety requirements, and policy makers across Europe to take appropriate steps to address this issue."

Earlier this year, the UK government pledged to introduce legislation to regulate body piercing after an appeal by the mother of a teenager who died after having his lip pierced.

The Department of Health was also set to look at carrying out a study into the health risks arising from body piercing.

[dm383]

Quite frankly, ANYTHING the E.U. is for, I'm against!! (witness their attempts to cap bikes to 100b.h.p. a few years ago!!)

*Rushes out to get a full back-piece done!*

DM

[dadaist]

Or the three EU Parlimentarians seeking bans/restrictions on female nudity?

You'll have to get a translation if you don't speak German, but the URL to the protest held in Berlin, and an article about the three women seeking the ban is:

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2003/06/28/nackte/nackte.html

Looks like the ban would apply to advertising, or any toplessness in newspapers/magazines or on tv.
The claim is that the use of such women is discrimination (but the article below states that such a ban would be sought as a wider anti-discrimination measure). So what did a bunch of women do in Berlin? They pranced around topless (and got in the newspaper, natch).

Oh and I found the Daily telegraph article that the Bild article mentioned. I'll post it on its own.

[dadaist]

Page Three girls face veto from Brussels feminists
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels and Tom Leonard
(Filed: 25/06/2003)

Advertisements that affront "human dignity" by demeaning women would be prohibited under proposals being drafted by the European Commission.

Television programmes would also be censored to ensure there was no promotion of gender stereotypes.

The plans, still in their infancy, are already provoking bitter dispute in Brussels and were described by one commission official yesterday as "lunatic".

The proposals, which need the approval of the college of 20 commissioners before being put forward as a draft law, would force insurance companies to offer the same rates for pension annuities and car insurance regardless of gender, overriding the actuarial data used to calculate risk.

Tabloid newspaper "Page Three" pictures would also be threatened. Most forms of gender discrimination - either for or against women - would become illegal, affecting welfare benefits, education and health insurance. But plans to ban London gentlemen's clubs have been abandoned as a step too far.

The proposals were drafted by the European Union's employment and social affairs directorate, known in Brussels as one of the last outposts of "unreconstructed" 1970s Leftists.

It is headed by Anna Diamantopoulou, Greece's socialist commissioner and an ardent feminist. But EU diplomats say she is a model of moderation compared to her top civil servant, Odile Quintin, viewed as a champion of France's militant trade unions.

The driving force behind the proposal is Barbara Helfferich, a German feminist who was head of the European Women's Forum before joining Mrs Diamantopoulou's cabinet in charge of "gender equality".

Fierce resistance is already building in the free-market wing of the European Commission, led by Italy's Mario Monti and Holland's Frits Bolkestein, who are in charge of competition policy and the single market.

One official said: "This goes to the heart of insurance company business, which is to discriminate on the basis of actuarial data. It is a huge interference in the markets."

Media regulators in Britain claimed yesterday that "human dignity" was already accorded sufficient respect in the existing rules for advertising and programmes.

The Independent Television Commission, which polices standards of both programmes and commercials, said its own codes appeared to cover the same ground as the planned European Union legislation.

It insisted that advertisers and programme makers had to be allowed creative freedom and to be able to use humour, even if it meant creating stereotypes that some found offensive.

Mrs Diamantopoulou has so far succeeded in pushing through legislation such as a "Vibrations Directive" limiting the time farmers can spend on tractors and a "Noise Directive" restricting decibel levels in the workplace.

If the new proposals are endorsed by the commission they will still need the assent of the European Parliament and EU governments under majority voting. Britain does not have a veto.

John Mildenhall, managing director of the advertising agency TBWA, said any such regulation would meet with "massive resistance from advertisers and advertising agencies".

He predicted that it would lead to greater "sterilisation" of the portrayal of women in advertising. "Advertising is unrealistic enough as it is in reflecting what women really talk about," he said.

Recent research by TBWA found that the American series Sex and the City, in which women talk explicitly about sex, was the closest approximation on television of the conversations young women have together.