From this Thursday, inspectors from the Grenada Bureau of Standards will be visiting tattoo shops and parlours, to ensure that a shipment of tattoo inks and needles which the manufacturer said is contaminated, is not on the local market.
Head of Laboratory Services Division at the bureau, Leonard St Bernard, said that the inspection is due to a recall in the USA market by White & Blue Lion Inc in the City of Industry, California.
“We are aware that these products are imported into the market, not through an official distributor, but through direct purchase from places like Amazon. Compared to other products where we will just visit the official importer, in this case we have to visit the parlours and inspect they records,” said St Bernard.
The recall includes all tattoo needles and tattoo kits distributed by White & Blue Lion including those with the multi colored Chinese Dragon Image with black and white lettering and best if used by date as 16/12/2016, as well as pre-made tattoo needles sterilised by E O Gas with an expiration date of June 2018.
Besides visiting the tattoo shops and parlours, the inspectors will also be reviewing information collected by the Grenada Postal Corporation for importers who would have used the post office to import the products.
“We are not certain about the type of records these facilities keep, so the intention is to ensure that all forms of good tracing are done to rid any such product on the market, because the potential medical implication can have far reaching effects,” he said.
A statement from the bureau said that recall of the tattoo inks and tattoo needles are due to pathogenic bacterial contamination. “Based on the manufacturers, these products may cause bacterial infection and can lead to sepsis, a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection.”
Sepsis is a potentially fatal whole-body inflammation caused by severe infection and can continue even after the infection that caused it is gone. Sepsis is caused by the immune system’s response to a serious infection, most commonly bacteria, but also fungi, viruses, and parasites in the blood, urinary tract, lungs, skin, or other tissues.
Common symptoms of sepsis include those related to a specific infection, but usually accompanied by high fevers, hot, flushed skin, elevated heart rate, hyperventilation, altered mental status, swelling, and low blood pressure.
By Linda Straker
