Illinois will begin inspecting tattoo parlors
News | The Chi Town Project | July 14, 2009 at 3:47 PMLaw also covers body-piercing establishments
Tattoo parlors will soon be formally regulated by the state of Illinois for the first time.
Officials will begin inspecting tattoo parlors and body-piercing establishments in August.
The Illinois Department of Public Health says local health departments have the framework in place to enforce a law passed by the General Assembly in 2006.
The law calls for yearly health inspections to ensure sanitary conditions at tattoo and piercing establishments. It also requires workers to be trained.
Health department spokeswomen Kelly Jakubek says 212 facilities have already registered with the state.
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While the Health Department has put their inspection program together, those of us who have complied, submitted a floor plan, and paid our fees, are not the problem. We’re all ready for our inspections.
The Body Art Code specifically states in Section 797.400 Operational Requirements:
a) It shall be unlawful for any person to perform body art procedures unless such procedures are performed in a body art establishment with a current certificate of registration.
So if only 212 of us out of the 400 or more that they know about are registered, would it not make more sense to first go after those other studios registered, and the countless underground tattoo artists and permanent makeup people that are working out of dirty environments like nail salons?
Would it not make more sense to make the public aware that they should only seek body art procedures from registered studios and have a list of those studio posted online in order to find eligible registered facilities? (This is a registration process, not licensing.)
While there are still problems with the Rules and some definite biases, it is a great start, and while the Department of Health is likely suffering from budget cuts and other issues we all face with this economy, I applaud them for their efforts in moving this forward.