Dartmouth addresses piercing

By Joe Beaird, Standard-Times staff writer

DARTMOUTH -- A back room tongue piercing at a local tanning salon could spur the Board of Health into action today.

After a 17-year-old girl had her tongue pierced at Palm Beach Tanning last month, her concerned mother called the town to complain about unsanitary conditions, and not being consulted before the piercing.

Although tattooing is illegal in the commonwealth, neither the state nor Dartmouth regulates body piercing. The town health board will decide how to address that today.

"My guess is they'll tell me to come up with some regulations," said Wendy Henderson, town director of public health. "We don't want to stop it -- we just want to make sure it's done clean and appropriately."

Body piercing has become an increasingly popular fad among young people, who have moved beyond ear lobes and pierce their noses, navels, lips, and eyebrows.

"It's pretty scary to me," Ms. Henderson said. "People pierce just about anything you can think of."

But she is most concerned that the procedures are performed in clean locations with sanitary equipment. Body piercing is no longer offered at the Russells Mills tanning salon that was the origin of the complaint.

"He's out of there now," Ms. Henderson said.