Jewelry Materials & The European Directive

The ideal jewelry material is completely inert. The body should not react chemically with it nor should it provoke any allergic response. Of the metals used in piercing only titanium and niobium are truli inert. The gold alloys and surgical stainless steel (SSS) are not inert. Indeed tiny amounts of metal leak into the body from these alloys. In 1999 the European Economic Community issued a Directive that surgical stainless steel be phased out of use. This was because of concern over the leakage of metals such as nickel into the body from jewelry. The rest of the world continues to use SSS more than any other material for body piercing. This website repeatedly mentions SSS as a suitable material.