4B
Thursday, January 22, 2004
NAUOi
THE BATTALIol
Tattoos still taboo at the office
By Gregory Schmidt
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI _ Once in vogue with
bikers and sailors, tattoos
achieved mainstream popularity a
decade ago, adorning the skin of
celebrities, models and profes
sional athletes.
Today, one in every 10
Americans has a tattoo, up from
one out of a hundred three
decades ago, according to the
Alliance of Professional
Tattooists, a nonprofit education
al group based in Annapolis, Md.
“I’ve tattooed everybody _
doctors, city councilmen, police
officers,” says alliance executive
director Dennis Dwyer. He’s even
tattooed permanent eyebrows on
the face of an Arizona state legis
lator. “It’s become more socially
acceptable.”
Indeed, skin art has crept into
the white-collar world of lawyers,
accountants and high-powered
executives. But how socially
acceptable are tattoos in the
workplace?
Though times have changed,
most office workers still want to
be discreet when it comes to their
tattoos, Dwyer says.
“They want a certain mys
tique,” he says. “They pick an
area they can cover with clothing.
Common spots are the back,
ankle and deltoid. You can show
it with a tank top or a short-
sleeved shirt. But the neck and
face? I’m not sure our culture is
ready for that.”
Adam Miller agrees with cov
ering tattoos at work. A 29-year-
old creative writer at a downtown
Miami law firm. Miller had his
left upper forearm inked with a
portrait of Edgar Allen Poe while
he was a junior at Florida State
University. Because of the loca
tion of the tattoo, he says, he’s
never had a problem at work.
“1 don’t even know that they
know I have it,” he says.
“There aren’t a whole lot of sit
uations where anyone at work
would see it.”
Miller cautions other curious
colleagues against displaying tat
toos at work: “That was one thing
former FSU President Sandy
D’Alemberte said at graduation _
don’t get a tattoo that will show at
your job interview.”
Danna Can, however, uninten
tionally flashed hers, and her boss
says it probably helped her land
the job.
A 30-year-old public relations
account executive at DJS
Marketing in Coconut Grove,
Can got a tattoo of an angel on
her inner ankle when she was 17.
“At the time, it was very cool
and edgy,” she says. “A lot of
women have them, but I’m a pro
fessional woman now, and 1 think
it sends the wrong message about
who I am.”
Her boss, Deborah Scarpa, the
owner of the marketing agency,
disagrees. She noticed Can’s tat
too as Can was leaving after their
job interview and says she was
impressed.
“I think it’s very cool.” Scarpa
says. “Donna is a very beautiful,
elegant woman. The tattoo made
me realize she has a lot of diver
sity to her. I found it intriguing.
In the type of business I am in,
you don’t want someone who’s
boring. You want someone with
an edge.”
Can admits hers is “not a con
servative industry. When the
weather is warm, I wear skirts so
you can see it. But I think it’s
something people judge you on.”
While skin art may intrigue
some office workers, for others,
its time has passed.
Margie Estrada regrets getting
her tattoos. A real estate paralegal
at Meland Russin and Hellinger
in Miami, Estrada got her skin
tattooed with a black heart above
her ankle, a tear on the left side of
her chest and a shooting star on
her back in a moment of impulse
in December 1999.
“1 didn't really discuss it with
anyone because they would have
talked me out of it,” the 33-year-
old says. “They were novel for
about three months.”
She says she’s received a cou
ple of negative reactions from co-
Cattle being cloned
to be ‘mad cow’ free
Noelu Theard • KRT CAMPUS
Danna Can, of Miami, Fla., has a cherub tattooed on her ankle. She usual
ly covers it up for work because she thinks it looks unprofessional,
workers and others, including her while, 1 realize they’re not me.”
7-year-old daughter, and now she
wants to get them removed.
“It hasn’t exactly been a posi
tive experience having them, and I
realize I did it in an impulsive
moment,” she says. “Had I
thought it through, I wouldn't have
done it. Now that I’ve had them a
Likewise, Miller won’t be
adorning his body again.
“I was considering getting a
raven, to follow the whole Poe
theme.” he says. “But it’s like
sky-diving: I did it once, and 1
liked it, but 1 don't think I'll do it
again.”
By Chris Kahn
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) —
Scientists looking for a surefire
way to stop mad cow disease are
trying to clone cattle that are
genetically engineered to resist
the deadly brain-wasting illness.
The Biotechnology Industry
Organization, a Washington
trade group, says at least three
research teams are trying to pro
duce clones. One of those, a
team in Korea, announced last
month the birth of four “mad
cow-proof” calves.
At Virginia Tech University,
Will Eyestone and William
Huckle say they are hoping for
success soon, too.
“If all goes well, we’re look
ing to have a cloned cow born
later this year or early next
year," Eyestone said.
Using such a tricky and
expensive method to protect the
beef of the future doesn’t seem
very practical, beef industry and
consumer advocates say. Still,
there is interest in the effort.
“We’re not in support of
cloning cattle,” said James
“Bo” Reagan, of the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association in
Denver. "But the more knowl
edge we have on any subject,
the better off we'll be on mak
ing decisions.”
The Food and Drug
Administration has not
approved beef from cloned cat
tle or their offspring for food.
Even if it does get FDA approval
someday, Reagan said ranchers
probably wouldn’t rush to buy
genetically engineered cows.
Mad cow disease remains a
small threat for American beef,
he said, and a herd of genetical
ly engineered animals would
cost a fortune.
But if mad cow disease
became a serious threat “and we
felt like there was a high risk,
then yeah — there would be a
lot of people interested," y
said.
Jean Halloran, director of ty
Consumer Policy Institute iJ
New York, said some consumeJ
would be open to the ideaoj
buying cloned meat that’s bebJ
promoted as “mad cow-proofl
But she said doing so seems lilit|
overkill.
“This is a profoundly wronj
headed approach to the problem,
she said of the cloning researdi
"Especially when there’s a mud
easier solution, which is thatya
stop feeding contaminated feedtc
animals that they weren’t me®
to have in the first place. Cwt
are vegetarians.”
Eyestone and Huckle sai;
they started working on clonim
calves about two years agoi:|
hopes of learning more abotl
prions, the twisted protein!
blamed for several types oil
brain-wasting disease in peopkl
and animals.
The rogue prions that catix
mad cow disease, formalh
known as bovine spongiforr
encephalopathy (BSE), art whit
stand ultraviolet light, ionizin;
radiation, sterilizing temper;
tures and chemical disinfectant'
As they work through tk
body, the prions infect nomi
prion proteins, causing themi
misfold and infect other pm
teins, eventually creating tir
sponge-like holes in the brai
Infected animals wobble ai
slobber: people with the hum,
form of the disease also kxl
muscle control and suffer frccl
dementia before dying.
Cattle are thought togetBS;!
from eating feed that contairl
prion-contaminated meal mao:l
from other cow s. Such feed»j|
banned in 1997. Sciential
believe people can get thJ
human form of the disease!I
eating processed beef producl
containing spinal or nenot!
system tissue from a BSE
infected cow.
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