THE tattooing and body piercing of anyone under the age of 18 may soon be outlawed.

New legislation is being drafted at the request of Health Minister Stuart Syvret to toughen up the law on such body adornments. The Senator also wants to see tighter controls on relatively new beauty treatments such as botox injections, skin jetting and dermal fillers, which are used to ‘fill in’ wrinkle lines. It is anticipated that a new law will require the administering of such treatments to be better regulated. As the law currently stands, it is illegal to tattoo or body pierce (there is no age requirement for ear piercing) a person under the age of 18. However, those from the ages of 16 to 18 can be tattooed or body pierced with the written consent of their parents. Senator Syvret has asked the law draftsmen to write new legislation that will outlaw it completely. The maximum sentence for someone convicted of tattooing a minor is five years in jail.