Taken without permission from the Toronto sun website
Its tattoo-related-virus panic season again here in Toronto. Every year some version of this story runs:
A Toronto public health investigation has found that a west-end tattoo and body piercing shop could have been infecting its clients with blood-borne diseases for close to a year, although no cases have been reported.
Investigators found that infection control practices at Its Just Body Art, located at 1072 Wilson Ave., may not have prevented the potential spread of diseases such as HIV and hepatitis B and C from Sept. 28, 2009 to Sept. 30, 2010.
As a result, the department is advising anyone who received a tattoo or piercing at the shop to be tested by a doctor. -From the Globe and Mail, Tuesday, November 9th.
Every time this happens I have 2 months worth of clients walking through the door asking me if Ive heard about the shop in the west end that gave everyone AIDS. Weve already received two phone calls about it since the shop opened at 11 this morning, and Im writing this at 1pm. This happened last year at a shop in Mississauga called Moonshin (sic?), and the year before with some shop in Pickering. Each of these shops shared the same fuck up: failure to get their autoclave spore tested regularly and the further failure to keep accurate client records. Im not aware that anyone has actually been infected in any of these cases, but that hardly seems to matter. This is essentially an error in record keeping, and in realistic terms not a serious risk to anyone. Im not saying its an excusable mistake (its not) and I dont mean to imply that the health department is over-reacting (theyre not), but it is interesting to see the relationship between the news reported and the news understood.
Heres what will happen next: The health department shakes down every shop in the city for health code compliance over the next couple of weeks so they dont look like total jackasses. Its relatively easy to follow the guidelines, so they wont need shut anyone down. Then theyll cook up some new hair-brained rules for us to follow with unintended consequences.
For example, I worked for a shop in a city where the health department decided that all tattooists garbage cans must have lids. Although this may sound like a reasonable idea at first, any tattooist who has used this system will tell you that the only purpose this lid serves is providing one more surface to contaminate. The lid acts in exactly the opposite way it was intended.
Heres a further example thats directly related to the story in the paper; Last year the Toronto health department requested that we spore test our autoclave twice a month, rather than just the once monthly test that was previously considered adequate. Spore tests are performed by independent 3rd party labs at the expense of the tattoo studio. Shortly after we were notified by the city about the change in the spore testing schedule, we were contacted by the lab who does our testing saying that due to the increased demand they are no longer testing tattoo studios. Ive worked in tattoo shops for 12+ years and I have never seen a failed spore test, which isnt to say that autoclaves neednt be tested (they do) but the need for by-weekly tests is at least debatable. Especially considering that its making spore testing harder to get rather than easier.
Whats that?,I hear the angry helicopter moms saying were all better off safe than sorry, right? well shit, why not weekly tests? Why not every day? (aside from the per-cycle chemical tests we already do). At some point we have to decide where the line between reasonably safe, and crazy is. The difference between the two is like the difference between sending your kids to school on a bus, and sending them on the bus wearing helmets and elbow pads. Sure, in the event of a crash the helmets may protect the children from a potential head injury, but the helmets will fail at saving them from years of emotional scars and resentment from having been the school safety dork.
TOTALLY UNRELATED: Heres a sample of two sleeves I just finished, but havent had the time splice the photos together properly for the gallery
Travelling is my life
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