APTPI at the APP Conference in Las Vegas, May 2009
For the 6th time APTPI participated to the annual APP (Association of Professional Piercers), now at its 14thh edition.
During the conference, the APTPI held a booth along with BMXnet (www.bmxnet.com) to expose to the conference participants activities organized until today, and to present the next International Congress, which will take place this time again in Milan, on january 2009.
As in any other edition of the APP conference it has been organized a round table for all international attendees.
At the round table, moderated by Danny Yerna, APP International outreach coordination, there were 40 participants circa, from different nations like: Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zeland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden…
Associations that participated were: APTPI, the only APP corporate member association, BMXnet from Germany, ASAP from Sweden and obviously the APP.
The goal of the meeting was to offer a place where to create new collaborations to the different international realities, and to try to help, improve and tighten relations between operators, despite to language barreers and nationality.
Sadly everybody agreed that the global situation is undefined under a legal aspect, and theres no attention from authorities to take enough care of the general public and the operators in this environment. In too many cases laws are too permissives, as in certain areas of Spain, while in other realities, like in Japan, the piercing career is highly prone to be punished, even with jail; our profession in Japan is tollerated, but laws considers it as an abuse of the medical profession.
The most developed country in these terms seems to be Norway, in which the practice of body piercing is widely legalized and accepte, and with an extra fee of 50 euros it is possible to obtain the presence of a medic for consultations and anesthesias.
Many conclusions were obvious at the end of the round table, and it is a fact that the APTPI Congress in Milan, as well as the APP Conference of Las Vegas, within the german BMXnet, are nowadays the biggests educational events worldwide. They are a basic meeting point for professional Piercers to heighten their standards and quality.
Meetings of operators and new piercing organizations in time might produce a benefit for the whole industry, that as for now is still seen as an “undergoround” job in too many coutries of the world.