Tattoo Nation--the U.S. is getting inked.  Below:  an excerpt, including a discussion of new tattoo technology that promises to make a tattoo as easy to remove as a piece of jewelry.

So why has body art become so popular?

Laumann and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage. The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.

"It's a very easy way to express something that you think represents part of your identity -- that you don't have to tell someone but you can just have seen," said Chelsea Farrell, 21, an American University senior from Albany, New York Farrell has a tattooed fish on each hip and a Celtic knot on the small of her back.

. . .

Freedom-2 LLC, a Philadelphia company co-founded by Anderson, hopes to launch the first of two lines of not-so-permanent tattoo inks next year, though without FDA approval. . . .

A second ink, to be available in 2008, would rely on the same technology, except the capsules would dissolve on their own. Depending on the version, the tattoos would naturally vanish after six months, 12 months or 24 months.

"It will be like wearing a tattoo like it's jewelry, where you will be able to take it off. It will just fade on its own," Schmieg said.