Story Created:
Dec 1, 2009 at 3:01 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Dec 11, 2009 at 11:08 AM EDT
MESA, Ariz. (AP) - What must it feel like to have small fish nibble at your feet to eat away the dead skin? Cindy Vong opened "Spa Fish Therapy" in Gilbert, Arizona last year and offered the service for $30.
Goldwater Institute, a conservative watchdog oranization, filed a suit on Monday declaring that the Arizona Board of Cosmetology went too far in by declaring that the fish are performing pedicures. Pedicures are within the Board's regulatory control. Because fish cannot be sterilized, the Board ordered Vong's "Spa Fish Therapy" business closed. The Goldwater Institute's suit charges: "that the order exceeds the Board’s jurisdiction and violates Ms. Vong’s freedom of enterprise under the state and federal constitutions."
See the Goldwater press release here.
The small Garra Rufa fish imported from China are used in this therapy, which is popular in some US states and Asia.
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