Health Officials Warn Tattoo Customers

Health officials are urging people who had tattoos done at any of seven unlicensed parlours in the Calgary area to get tested for hepatitis and HIV after an investigation into the home-based businesses. Health inspectors found unsanitary conditions, including tattoos being done on a couch in a bedroom, no stainless steel sinks, no disinfectant and no approved sterilizers or hand-washing facilities. “There are certain standards of the Public Health Act that have to be met and these places didn’t meet them, ” Shannon Evans, a spokeswoman for Alberta Health Services, said this week. Five of the unapproved shops remain closed while two others that inspectors shut down in late 2009 have complied with provisions of the health act and reopened. National Post