At the beginning of June, Health Canada warned Canadians of potential cancer risk associated with gentian violet. This was concerning to many professional piercers in Canada and internationally, due to the fact that gentian violet is a product commonly used for marking before a piercing. There has been some debate in the piercing community over whether the gentian violet product recall should affect our industry.

In Issue 89, we’ll have a thorough examination of the studies that triggered the product recall and what that may mean for professional piercers and consumers in general. Thankfully, in the meantime, there are non-gentian violet options available in the form of pressure marks and non-gentian markers. It should be noted that when opting for markers, skin specific pens and surgical markers should be used rather than permanent ink pens and markers.