UPDATE: Local Tattoo And Body Piercing Operations Come Under Scrutiny

5/17 UPDATE: Riverside County supervisors tentatively approved an ordinance today establishing health standards and safety regulations for tattoo parlors and other body art businesses.

The measure, which would be enforced by the county's Department of Environmental Health, is set for a public hearing next Tuesday.

Under the ordinance, the approximately 100 body artists with operations in the county's unincorporated communities -- and in cities that don't have their own health departments, such as Lake Elsinore and Wildomar -- would be required to register their businesses by filing an application, establish "exposure containment'' plans that prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS or hepatitis and permit regular inspections by county personnel.

Shop owners would have to demonstrate adherence to sterilization procedures for body-piercing and tattooing equipment and ensure used products are properly discarded. They would also have to comply with state law and refuse to tattoo, pierce or otherwise permanently alter the features of a person under 18 years old without parental consent.

With other board members' backing, Supervisor Jeff Stone, a practicing pharmacist, added a number of provisions to "strengthen'' the proposed ordinance.

The supervisor introduced the changes after citing literature indicating that "30 percent of new piercings require medical attention'' and "eight out of 1,000 piercings require emergency room treatment.''

The provisions Stone submitted included:
   -- a mandate that body artists use sterile gloves in addition to sterilized equipment;
   -- any procedure that involves piercing a customer's butt, genitalia or breast be witnessed by a second person;
   -- business permits be clearly displayed; and,
   -- that any practitioner of permanent cosmetics submit a thumb print to the state as part of the application process.

Stone also wanted a prohibition against any sex registrant working in a body art business. Under California law, any person convicted of a sex crime must register their whereabouts with law enforcement for life as a condition of their parole.

The supervisor recommended a letter-grade system, similar to restaurants, in which health inspectors rate the quality of an establishment on an A-F scale, with grades being posted in a shop's window.

The ordinance comes about a year after the county's Grand Jury criticized the Department of Environmental Health for a laxity in holding tattoo parlors and other body art businesses to tough standards.

According to the grand jury report, applications furnished by the department often failed to ensure that permanent cosmetics providers passed a safety class, obtained a facility permit, established an exposure containment plan and retained a copy of the county's health code. --City News Service and Toni McAllister contributed to this report.

5/17 ORIGINAL POST: Riverside County supervisors are expected today to consider an ordinance establishing health standards and other regulations for tattoo artists, body-piercing specialists and other "body art'' businesses.

The county's Department of Environmental Health would be responsible for enforcing the measure, which, if approved, will be the subject of a public hearing in two weeks.

Under the ordinance, the approximately 100 body artists with operations in the county's unincorporated areas would be required to register their businesses by filing an application, establish "exposure containment'' plans that prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS and permit regular inspections by county personnel.

There are body art parlors in unincorporated areas outside Lake Elsinore and near Wildomar.

Shop owners of these businesss would have to demonstrate adherence to sterilization procedures for body-piercing and tattooing equipment and ensure used products are properly discarded.

The ordinance comes about a year after the county Grand Jury criticized the Department of Environmental Health for a laxity in holding tattoo parlors and other body art businesses to any kind of standard.

According to the grand jury report, applications furnished by the department often failed to ensure that permanent cosmetics providers passed a safety class, obtained a facility permit, established an exposure containment plan and retained a copy of the county's health standards. --City News Service and Toni McAllister contributed to this report.