State Kills Fish Pedicures in Washington Salons

The Department of Licensing just announced that Fish Pedicures are now illegal in WA State. It doesn't effect us because we never offered them here (yet?). The issue, however may lie with the precedent they are setting with this new law. We haven't received the official letter from the DOL, but based on this King 5 article we read today, it may set a bad precedent for natural cures.

Here's their logic we surmised from the article.
According to the DOL tools must be sanitized.
Fish are being used as tools.
Tools must be sanitized.
Fish cannot be sanitized.
Therefore, fish pedicures are not sanitary.

The fish themselves have been known to cure psoriasis. So, we dont believe that fish should be classified as "tools" subject to the same sanitary requirements as medical instruments (you can't autoclave a fish, duh!).

People will find evidence to support whatever they believe. This treatment should be further investigated without the emotional reactions that occur when you say, "fish pedicure." In the same way, I would like to see both sides of the arguments that were brought to the DOL when they established this precedent and putting this law into motion.

Based our our research, the treatment is safe. In Turkey and many parts of Asia, you can dunk your entire body and swim with fishies that nibble on you. I havent read or heard of any reported cases where the public was harmed or any diseases spread in this manner. The fish are tiny so they can't be mistaken for pirhannas (hmmm....pirhanna pedicures coming soon?) Dr. Fish teeth aren't sharp and they can only feed off of dead skin cells.

We believe public health ought to be the primary concern. This treatment seems safe (but perhaps it is lack of information) and the burden of proof ought to be on the State to show evidence otherwise.

Additional research must be done. Perhaps a special license should be required to offer this service in salons to gather more empirical data to prove that it is safe or unsafe. This is the best way to respect the markets demand while balancing out the safety concerns of the DOL.

But to completely outlaw a service based on faulty logic is irrational. Outlawing something that is obviously demanded by the public seems contradictory to our free market system.

Will they bail us out if we fail or condemn us if we succeed? Either way we lose.

What do you think? Check out the King 5 article here and post your comments.