Tattoos May Increase Idaho Cancer Rates

Some of my excellent friends have tattoos. My dad had several on his arms and hands when he came home from the Army. He didn’t like to talk about them and would try to hide them in job interviews or important meetings. He also wouldn’t talk much about how he got them, but I gather it involved leave and alcohol.

Today, tattoos are mainstream. I know Christians who get them to share favorite Bible verses, even though some faiths frown on painting your body.

Most tattoo parlors are exceedingly safe. Most people don’t go into the bowels of hell to get one printed on an arm, chest, or face. They find a legitimate shop. All is well and good, but new research shows another hazard—a significant increase in your odds of developing cancer.

Will this discourage people? I don’t think so. It doesn’t discourage some people from smoking, drinking, and tanning. I once read a story in which the writer said tattoos are the new smoking. A statement of identity. Plus, while tobacco became very expensive with new sin taxes, getting a tattoo is once and done.

Never having any desire to get a tattoo, I don’t fully understand the attraction. It’s not like it makes you prettier. Some of the people I’ve seen who’ve overdone it look downright satanic.

The questions I would ask are what the personal benefit is and what’s the public benefit? Some tattoos I would describe as art, but there are very few people who I would describe as da Vinci wielding a needle.