If sanitary conditions are a concern, is it really so impossible to fix this? What about a second tank where the women could soak their feet in a basin designed to dispense the appropriate mixture of warm water and germicidal solution. Or better still, use alcohol.

I can't believe this would be a serious problem. Restaurants can have fish tanks in them. Is there no way to create a workable solution?

I'd invite the legislators who voted to shut down this business over for a complimentary fish-exfoliating soak...after I replaced the fish with piranhas. (Yes, I'm aware that's a myth. I'm just making a joke.)

Are the fish expensive\replaceable or can they be sanitized? Where is PETA? These fish are being forced to work under horrendous conditions with no pay!

They let kids decide the risk in Missouri. There is a tank of these fish in the aquarium area at City Museum in St. Louis.

Where is PETA? These fish are being forced to work under horrendous conditions with no pay!

Visitors are invited to put their hands in, and my first reaction was to wonder if the fish were going to be harmed by all the unwashed hands polluting their water. Seemingly not, for those little buggers are getting huge. Well, minnow-huge anyway. That tank is extremely popular.

You know, pedicures themselves carry risks -- the basins used to soak (etc.) feet can accumulate bacteria and the like that can infect feet that are being scraped, poked, et al. Are we going to shut down pedicure businesses as a whole now? (Wait, I probably shouldn't give them any ideas...)

I would really love to try a fish pedicure, given that I (TMI alert!) tend to have an issue with dead skin building up on my feet. You know what the only effective removal method is for me now? Devices that slice off the skin (Ped-Eggs, callus rasps and the like). I fail to see how tanks of fish are more dangerous to my health than that.

The fish are falling victim to two forces: The unthinking "ew" reaction, and the desire by existing businesses to avoid losing customers to someone more willing to invest thousands of dollars than they are. Neither should be the final say on public policy.

“The Board has determined that fish cannot be utilized as an implement when used in the care for the skin therefore, falls under the sanitation and disinfection administrative rules of the Board. Those rules require that all implements be sanitized and disinfected before and after services on each client."

What if you have athlete's foot, or some other skin disease? It is entirely believable that the fungus could be transmitted to the next client: by the fish, by the water, or by whatever your feet touch within the tank. None of these can be sterilized between clients.

The "New Hampshire Board of Barbering, Cosmetology, and Esthetics" is enforcing current sanitary regulations. Do you think nail salons should not sterilize their tools between clients?

I'd read about these and wanted to try one. I don't know of any here in central texas though. I can't imagine fish are any less sanitary than metal instruments used on foot after foot after foot.

Some tv show (20/20 type) did an expose on nail salons. Plenty of them were using things that weren't sanitizers, on their tools. A few were just using blue food dye in water. Yum.

We do need the government's help to regulate sanitation at nail places...b/c dirty tools are *known* to cause infection. You can easily get cut and germs will enter the wound and cause a slew of issues. Since we cannot, as customers, test all the equipment before getting a mani/pedi (and who'd want to?) these regs are good.

...but since we have no evidence of potential health hazards with these fish...wtf?!

I'm 100% positive that the legislature saw this, thought it was creepy and weird and concluded it's therefore be bad/dangerous. I mean. Asians eat dogs and stuff. Obviously we can't let them run wild with their weird customs and standards in the nail shops they have every 20 feet across America!! We'll all get Mad Fish Foot or some disease!! (Sarc.)

Freedom and cultural tolerance fail.

One thing this country will never run out of is people who want to run other people's lives.

I think it ought to be a capital offense, but I appear to be a minority.

bradly13 -
first, most skin diseises are non comunicable

second, athlete fot is a parasidic fungal infection. You can kill it by urinating on your feet in the shower.

thrid, how hard would it be to require a seondary soaking in a second foot bath with a mild vinegar solution to kill any errent fungal cells - which woulndt grow on 95% of people who do something as simple as change their socks once a day eve if they didnt 'disenfect' their feet, as opposed to saying people are to fuking stupid to make their own decisions

fourth, did you miss the part of the report which highlighted the board members are shop owners themselves? and have an obvious conflict of interest?

I bring my own tools. That way, if my tools are unsanitary, it's my own damn fault.

I used to get "fish pedicures" (before they started charging money for them in salons) while sitting on the bank of a creek in my cutoff shorts. As the kids played on inner tubes, we moms would bask in the sun and soak our feet in the cool water. Before long, tiny fish would come and nibble at the dead skin on our feet. (Between that and the mud, it works just as well as any salon pedicure, btw).

I feel badly for that poor salon owner. That whole situation reeks of government corruption.

Besides, it's just silly. How long have people been exposed to things like fish, worms, feathers, dirt, etc. (and no ill effects) vs. our industrialized society exposing its chemicals, vapors, and other harmful substances.

OK I agree that nail salons that don't sanitize their equipment should be shut down... but this fish thing seems harmless. I think I would be too ticklish for it though...

9 will get you 10 that this is something that's being stirred up by pedicurists.

"One thing this country will never run out of is people who want to run other people's lives."

As long as there's money in it there will continue to be, no matter that it involves pissing on lady liberty. Unfortunately the public don't seem to be anywhere near tired of giving up more and more of their money to fund ever more of these types of leeches.

Off topic:

I have been on the fence about legalizing marijuana now for sometime. Amy's been pretty persuasive on the subject and has officially convinced me to support it. Legalize it and shut down these guys (see link) and their beheading cohorts in Mexico.

http://tinyurl.com/yzmud34

I'll be voting Yes on this initiative if it makes the ballot.

Absolutely, they should allow it ...

... the moment that it becomes illegal and frivolous to sue on the grounds that "because it was legal I assumed it was safe and didn't do any research on my own."

I personally wouldn't want to take the health risks of doing it. But I wouldn't assume that because others do that it's safe. And if they contracted some disease from it, they should have no legal recourse.

The more stupid Americans become, the more prevalent regulation becomes. Sad but true.

@NicoleK: "I think I would be too ticklish for it though..."

Tried it once in Manila. It's ticklish as hell! Somewhere there's a picture of me withy my feet in the fish tank and a big, idiot giggle on my face. I hope nobody finds it.

I find it amazing that people with dozens of antibacterial products in their home would ever go for this.

I'm from Florida, and was outdoors constantly back then. If you ever want to see what wants desperately to infect and eat you, get a little bit of the water the fish live in and put it under a microscope. You might have a bit more respect for your immune system afterwards.

Funny, though off-topic: when the Cassini probe was going to be launched from Kennedy Space Center, there were protesters because it had Plutonium thermal electrical generators on board. When the Brevard County Sheriff was asked why his men were only guarding the gate, the reply was that no protester was equipped to traverse the wilderness to get to the pad, where more police waited, anyway. Then he pointed at the alligators in the ditch not far away and said something to the effect that he had everybody he needed on duty...

You might think that "fresh water" is drinking water. Uh, no.

"no matter that it involves pissing on lady liberty"...at least she will not have to suffer athlete's foot issues...

My memory is fuzzy, and I don't even remember where or when I read it. But I think I saw something where these fish were capable of transmitting hepatitis or something equally as disturbing. Again, I don't remember the details exactly.

"at least she will not have to suffer athlete's foot issues"

Heh, I get athlete's foot from time to time, and I actually tried out that 'remedy' ... it didn't seem to help :/

Once you acctually have a case of athletes foot, its going to take a week or two to kill no matter what method you use.

My feet sweat like you wouldnt believe. 8 hours in a pair of shoes and my socks come out slighly yellow.

Its more of a preveative thing

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