The D.C. Health Department said Thursday that it has abandoned its attempt to force tattoo and piercing customers to wait 24 hours before receiving their body art.
Najma Roberts, a department spokeswoman, said the waiting-period proposal was rejected because of “strong public opinion” against it, as well as a desire to focus on “public health concerns.”
“The ultimate goal is to prevent disease and health threats,” Roberts said in an e-mail.
When a 66-page package of draft regulations was released in September, the department took the position that government might have a role in protecting consumers from permanent consequences that they might come to regret.
“They can’t be responsible for themselves, as well as the person doing the work on them,” Roberts said at the time. “We’re making sure when that decision is made that you’re in the right frame of mind, and you don’t wake up in the morning . . . saying, ‘Oh my God, what happened?’ ”