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A license to pierce means little State might change that with new requirements By BILL KETTLER Beth Berman has pierced thousands of navels, but the fine print on her body-piercing license might give a customer second thoughts. "Training, education and minimum competency," the license states, "are not validated by issuance of registration." Berman has worked as a body piercer for four years, but she's the first to admit her Oregon body-piercing license doesn't mean much. "For $35 anybody can get a license," Berman said as she prepared Marisa Firefly for a "Monroe," a lip piercing that mimics Marilyn Monroe's famous beauty mark. "To get a tattoo license is very difficult. I think piercing should move up to that level." To get a tattoo license, Berman would have to attend 360 hours of instruction or prove she had similar instruction in another state. To be a beautician, she would have to sit in class for 2,100 hours. To get her piercing license, she filled out a form and gave her application fee to the Oregon Health Licensing Board. Navels, nipples and noses all over Oregon have been sporting more and more holes since the mid-1990s, when body piercing began to acquire mainstream popularity. State inspectors check piercing salons to make sure they observe basic health and safety procedures, but piercers themselves remain largely unregulated. That could change soon. The Oregon Health Licensing Office plans to implement new licensing requirements that could take effect as early as December. Representatives from the Health Licensing Office have scheduled meetings in Medford Tuesday to hear ideas about how the piercing industry should be regulated. "We hear some common themes," said Kevin Weeks, a spokesman for the Health Licensing Office. "People want a piercing technician to have a good education about how the human body reacts to piercing, and to understand how to prevent disease transmission by improving standards for hygiene and sanitation." Weeks said the Health Licensing Office investigated 24 complaints against body piercers in 2000. About 80 percent of those involved allegations of safety or sanitation problems, and 20 percent involved allegations that piercers did their work while unlicensed or with suspended licenses. Weeks said only one minor paperwork-related complaint was filed against Jackson County's 11 licensed piercing establishments and 51 licensed technicians during 2000. Weeks said new licensing requirements will likely impose a minimum age of 18 for piercers and require them to have a high-school diploma or a GED certificate. Body piercers also will probably be required to take a basic first-aid class. Other proposals could surface during the Medford meeting. The proposals will be reviewed at a public hearing in August.The minimal standards proposed so far don't satisfy some body piercers. Berman, who works at Low Down Piercing Salon in Ashland, would like to see body piercers complete a course of instruction similar to the one required of tattoo artists. "That would drive people out who are only in it for the money," she said. Wendy O'Dell-Stone, who owns Cuttin Up Studio, said piercing artists should be vaccinated against hepatitis to protect themselves and their clients, and they need to know about blood-borne pathogens to work safely. "We need a lot tighter regulation in this field," she said. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Piercing talks The Oregon Health Licensing Office has scheduled two public meetings on Tuesday to talk about new regulations for the body-piercing industry. The meetings are open to anyone who wants to offer ideas about what body piercers should be required to know before they can obtain a license. The afternoon session will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Medford City Council chambers at City Hall, 411 W. Eighth St. An evening session will begin at 7 p.m. at Rogue Community College's Riverside Campus, 101 S. Front St., Room F11. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.