Two bills regulating body modification procedures are headed to the full House with support of the tattoo industry.
One bill would set an age limit for piercings without parental consent and another would ban sub-dermal implants. The bills passed the House Public Health Committee Thursday.
The bills' sponsor in the House, democratic Representative Deborah Ferguson of West Memphis, said the industry opposed earlier forms of the legislation but now they are working together.
"The goal is not to limit people's liberties or for them to have tattoos or piercings or anything they would like to have, but to bring some safety to the industry," Ferguson told the committee.
One bill would have banned a practice called scarification altogether, but now the Health Department will decide how to regulate regulate it.
