Kat Von D. The Anti-Vax Hero Of The Day. But Why?

By Molly Frank - The Silky Mom.

Ahh, Kat Von D. The anti-vaxxer hero of the day. But why?!? 
​  TL;DR version: Kat makes a living injecting people with heavy metals, and poorly studied chemicals that could cause cancer. Yet she’s an anti-vaxxer? 
Color me confused. 
 
​Aside from the fact that celebrities are hardly the best people for giving lifestyle advice. Especially one that used a satanic ritual as a wedding theme[1], (which really had me scratching my head knowing that Christian folks make up a large portion of the anti vax community). A lot of people still, unfortunately look up to celebrities. I’m pretty sure there are flocks of woman still steaming up their vajaja’s in the name of Gwyneth Paltrow. Kat has used her platform to help promote the anti-science/pro-disease movement. And the antivaxxers have found a new host to leech onto for a while. But why?!?

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Does anyone else find it ironic that she makes a living, and propels to fame by injecting people with chemical laden inks that I’m sure she cannot name the ingredients of? (Yes, I’m using an anti-vaxxers favorite go-to argument here.) Since they oh-so-often seem to find all the doctors who can’t list the ingredients to a vaccine. I pulled my favorite antivax tricks and “did my own research”. Calling up 7 local tattoo parlors, I asked if they could tell me the ingredients in tattoo ink. None of them could “off hand” but they we’re all glad to help me in my search (such nice people!!). I know this really means nothing to those of us who use critical thinking skills, but since the AV’ers take everything they read on the internet as truth, this anecdote should be enough for them. 
Even if she did happen to use vegan friendly inks (accourding to peta.orgmany of the commonly used tattoo inks are not vegan friendly. It’s unclear what inks Kat prefers and/or uses. All the vegan tattoo websites I found that mention her, refer to her vegan friendly makeup line, not her ink preferences), many other scary chemikillz remain, including heavy metals, that are often used in the coloring process, (such as mercury, lead, antimony, beryllium, chromium, cobalt nickel and eeek arsenic![2]). Here’s some quotes from the ACS (and they actually name Kat in their article, for her Guinness World Record). Eerily similar to statements used by the antivax movement to describe vaccines (and my best antivaxxer commentary in the parenthesis for your reading enjoyment): 
“Permanent tattoos are made by injecting an ink into the skin using needles.” (Zomg!Needles!!! 😱) 
“A tattoo will fade if your immune system ever succeeds in breaking up the pigment particles.” (What?!? So unnatural the immune system can’t even handle it?!? 😵) 
“Tattoo inks also include a number of additives, such as surfactants, binding agents, fillers, and preservatives.” (Additives! The antivaxxer’s nemesis!)
“There are very real risks involved with inks and the tattoo process. The most common of these risks is that of an infection. Other known adverse reactions include allergic-hypersensitivity and auto-immune reactions, granulomas, and interferences with medical diagnoses and treatment.” (I wonder if Kat has ever read the insert on her tattoo ink? 🧐) 
“Also concerning, there are more than 200 colorants and additives in current use to produce tattoo inks, but their long-term outcome in the body is not well understood. This is especially true for industrial pigments, which are not tested for cosmetic use. Azo pigments are known to release carcinogenic aromatic amines as they break down, specifically when exposed to solar and ultraviolet radiation.” (Over 200 additives!! Cancer! Beware! ☠️) 
“Government regulations for tattooing are varied and tend to be associated with location, licensing of the tattoo parlor, and consent for minors” (did they just say they haven’t been tested for safety?!?) 
“individual risk associated with a tattoo is highly variable.” (Basically, anything can happen! The possibilities are endless! #learntherisk) [all quotes cite 3]
Now don’t run off and start an anti-tattoo movement. I pulled another one of my favorite anti-vaxxer moves and cherry picked the most scary sounding pieces to make it seem like tattoos are unsafe. When in fact, as long as you have an artist who is practicing proper infection control methods, you will most likely be okay. Unless you’re one of very, very few people who may have a serious skin reaction or allergic reaction. But the chance of that is very low. Probably about as low as your chance of having an adverse event from a vaccine.... 🤔
Now, should I pull another antivax move and not cite my sources? Nah. But I’ll use one of their favorite (and not-so-scholarly) sources as my first one! 

Citations:
1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly9kxAb2pPg&feature=youtu.be
2: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tattoo-ink-mercury-and-other-toxins/
3:https://inchemistry.acs.org/content/inchemistry/en/atomic-news/tattoo-ink.html?cq_ck=1485970665034