Temporary Cover-up of Your Tattoos

Read this article today from clickondetroit.com. Thought you all should see it as it may involve your health.

New research has turned up troubling details about chemicals in tattoo inks, including some endocrine disruptors and toxic metals, and a compound that has been called one of the most potent skin carcinogens. The FDA has launched an investigation into concerns about ink safety.

Tattoo ink trouble is nothing new. The inks, which are injected into skin with small needles, have caused allergic rashes, chronic skin reactions, infection and inflammation from sun exposure, said Elizabeth Tanzi, co-director of the Washington Institute of Dermatologic Laser Surgery in Washington, D.C.

A new study suggests that phthalates and other chemical ingredients may be responsible for those problems.

One of the chemicals found in black tattoo inks – benzo(a)pyrene – is a potent carcinogen that causes skin cancer in animal tests. Dermatologists have published reports in medical journals on rare, perhaps coincidental cases where melanomas and other malignant tumors are found in tattoos.

In July, scientists reported their discovery that the chemical dibutyl phthalate, a common plasticizer, along with other substances, are found in black tattoo inks. In the study of 14 commercially available inks, they found low levels of dibutyl phthalate in all of them.

These new found chemicals raise unanswered questions about more serious, long-term risks such as skin cancer.

“The substances found in the inks might be partially responsible for adverse skin reactions to tattoos,” wrote the dermatologists from Germany’s University of Regensburg.

For phthalates, which can mimic estrogen or disrupt testosterone, exposure of fetuses and infants is the major concern. In infant boys, prenatal exposure to dibutyl phthalate has been linked to feminization of the reproductive tract. In men, phthalate exposure has been linked to sperm defects and altered thyroid hormones.

But phthalates in tattoo inks may not carry the same risk.

“Phthalates are cleared from the body within hours, and unlike many phthalate exposures, those from tattooing will not be continuous,” said Shanna Swan, a reproductive epidemiologist at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York who studied the effects of phthalates on infant boys.

Phthalates applied to the skin in a lotion were absorbed and metabolized in a 2007 study, and the same thing is likely to happen with phthalates in tattoo inks, Swan said. ”While this is a potential source of high exposure, it might not last very long and may not present a risk to health,” Braun added.

More than 45 million Americans – including nearly 40 percent of adults in their late 20s – have a tattoo.

Now for a little business news: It looks as if the popularity of the Ed Hardy brand continues to grow.

April 27 (Reuters) – Iconix Brand Group Inc acquired the worldwide rights to American tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy’s brand from Nervous Tattoo in a $55 million deal that raised its stake in the brand to 85 percent.

Iconix, which acquired a 50 percent interest Hardy Way LLC — owner of the Ed Hardy brand and trademarks — in 2009, also raised its full-year expectations to reflect the acquisition. [ID:nASA01ZS4]

News of the acquisition, coupled with strong results, drove Iconix’s shares up 5 percent to $23.56 — their highest in over three years.

On a pro-forma basis, Iconix expects the Ed Hardy brand to generate total annual royalty revenue of about $15-16 million. The deal also included a $7 million earn-out.

Don Ed Hardy will retain a 15 percent minority interest.

Nervous Tattoo will continue as a licensee for Ed Hardy t-shirts, hats and hoodies and pre-pay $7 million in royalties under its license.

Iconix, which posted better-than-expected quarterly results driven by strength across its brand portfolio, owns and licenses brands including Candie’s, Joe Boxer and Badgley Mischka and sells its products at Target Corp , Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Kohl’s Corp among others.

“We also expect to continue to be acquisitive,” said Iconix Chief Executive Neil Cole, the brother of American designer Kenneth Cole. (Reporting by Viraj Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

Now that Gas is $4 per gallon…. Here is some information that we received via email. Have not confirmed the validity, but it was interesting.

“I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline…. but here in California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon: Although that’s next to impossible, these tips may help you. Also realize cost inflation  is being exercised daily as prices are increased on gas to their customers that was bought by the suppliers had a lower market price days before. Oil companies and suppliers are the one’s who make great gains in dollars from customers by this practice. But , unless the Government clamps down on them they will cheat us..

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.. One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening….your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role.

A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas,

DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.”

Have a look at these tattoos. Great work. These look fantastic. It almost seems a shame to cover them up. 

It’s hard to look authentically rebellious or menacing these days, when even well-behaved businessmen wear earrings and ponytails and college students destined for quiet suburban lives have body piercings and tattoos.

Tattoos, in particular, are not the radical brandings, the bold violations of flesh and propriety, they once were. Available in New York from almost 1,400 licensed tattoo artists, tattoos are probably better and safer now than they’ve ever been — more creative and varied, applied in many cases by serious, highly skilled body artists.

Then again, there are tattoos, and there are tattoos. It is unlikely that the ambitious professional with a single, understated, discreetly placed and wittily conceived tat, or for that matter the teenager with her boyfriend’s name and two lovebirds emblazoned in the small of her back, will ever have tattoos on the face and scalp, or a full chest or back “panel” or a tattooed arm or leg.

Some tattoo aficionados, though, have transformed large portions of their bodies into multicolored canvases for all manner of skulls, serpents, raptors, flame-breathing dragons, flowers, vines, angels, demons, daggers, buxom bombshells and portraits of heroes and loved ones.

Tattoos have been used for centuries to reflect changes in life status, whether passage into adulthood or induction into a group like the military or a gang. In recent years, tattoos have also become a fashion accessory, a trend fueled by basketball players, bands and celebrities.

A report by the Food and Drug Administration estimated that as many as 45 million Americans have tattoos. The report based the number on the finding by a Harris Interactive Poll in 2003 that 16 percent of all adults and 36 percent of people 25 to 29 had at least one tattoo. The poll also found that 17 percent of tattooed Americans regretted it. And a tattoo that cost several hundred dollars could require several thousand dollars and many laser sessions to remove.— From Times articles.