So you really, desperately want a tattoo. Is it safe?

The empirical evidence suggests it is. Hawai'i's licensed tattoo shops have a solid record for safety and sanitation; complaints to the Department of Health's sanitation branch have been few and far between.

Nonetheless, representatives of the local tattoo and body-piercing industry — no doubt motivated by enlightened self-interest — want stricter state regulations.

They've proposed two draft bills that would update training and testing and raise application and licensing fees, to help pay for at least one more inspector to oversee tattooing in shops and at trade shows.

Is all this really necessary? There's no doubt that drawing blood with a needle poses certain risks. Among them: infection with hepatitis B and C, HIV/AIDS, staph and other blood pathogens.

And while the state has basic sanitation rules for tattoos, none exist for body piercing, which can include everything from a tongue stud to tongue splitting.

There are clearly elements to the draft bills that have merit and should be seriously considered. Requiring tattoo artists to take an industry-specific course on bloodborne pathogens is reasonable; so is improving the licensing exam, which hasn't been updated since it was created in 1981.

State regulations for tattooing should also cover simple body piercing, which usually takes place in tattoo shops.

But some types of body piercing — such as inserting objects under the skin, or cutting strips of skin to braid them — should only be done (if at all) in a doctor's office. Surgery has no place in a tattoo shop.

Toughening the rules raises a hard question: Will enforcement get tougher too?

The Health Department's sanitation division already has its hands full with food-safety inspections. If its oversight of tattoo shops is to expand to body piercing, the division will need more resources and training at a time when money is tight. And that could prove more painful than getting a tongue stud.