Why Tattooing Was in the Dark for More Than 35 Years

he vibrating needle penetrating the upperlayer of skin 200 to 300 times each minute injecting ink and creating permanent tattoos has not always been viewed as a harmless tool for body modification.

Article from New York Journal-American, Oct. 30, 1961, announced the city ban on tattoos.

From 1961 to 1997 it was illegal to tattoo in New York City because of fear of hepatitis, a disease in which toxic agents cause inflammation of the liver. This ruling came after the New York City Health Department traced a spread of serum hepatitis to tattoo needles and dye solutions. The New York Journal-American quoted the department:

"Since it is a practical impossibility for the department to supervise each tattooing establishment at all times to insure proper sterilization, a complete ban on tattooing is the only feasible means of safeguarding the public against disease from this source."

There was never any definite proof of the connection between tattooing and hepatitis. Still, creating tattoos was illegal for more than 35 years.

Despite the ban, tattoo artists kept working in New York, underground and self-regulated, says Matty Jankowski, who set up his business during this period.

Vladimir Sutskeer,19, has no fears while Ely Quinters from Sacred Tattoo creates a Buddhist symbol.

"If somebody called the cops," he says, "the only thing that could happen was that they confiscated your tools." And that was only if they really wanted to. Normally they would just give a summons and leave.

When the ban was lifted in ’97, new rules were enforced to control the spread of infectious diseases, according to the Department of Health.

Today, tattoo artists need a license to work in New York. Since ’97, more than 500 tattoo licenses have been issued.

The minimum charge for a permant tattoo at Sacred Tattoo is $50, while a temporary can been done for $35.

When Jankowski started his business, permanent tattoos were mainly used to show group identity for bikers, gangs and Navy or Army soldiers. Today it is more of a personal statement, people "marking themselves permanently to celebrate a stage or event in their life," says Jankowski.

The temporary tattoos are mainly made for special occasions like Valentine's Day or Halloween, he says. "Or as a test-drive for a real tattoo."