T E N E R I F E ’ S O N LY Issue 699
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W E E K LY N E W S PA P E R
15 April 2011 - 21 April 2011
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Fish foot spa treatments are ‘risk’ to public health TINY fish nibbling at your feet. Sounds good? Well, the proliferation of the latest trend, the fish foot spa pedicure system, here in Tenerife has just set off alarm bells at Adeje Town Hall. Health Department chief Santos Cruz says, there is no proof this treatment does not pose a risk to public health and will not allow the spas to operate in the Municipality. The statement claims a lack of scientific evidence that this is a safe, curative therapy, as many operators says. The treatment uses the garra rufa fish, whose natural habitat is the warm waters off the Turkish coast. In the spas and beauty parlours, they are used in mineral waters as a pedicure as well as a treatment for some footrelated ailments, where they nibble dead skin from the client’s submerged feet, but Councillor Santos Cruz said: “I want to make it clear that this kind of treatment doesn’t help or cure every kind of skin condition and for that reason, we will not be allowing this kind of spa in our Municipality. “There just is not sufficient scientific proof on this and the minimum sanitary conditions have not been established yet for its use. “We know that this new practice is being offered under the name ictiotherapy, or spa fish, and that the feet remain in the water with the fish for between 15 to 20 minutes at a temperature of around 37º, which is the right temperature for the fish to survive but is also ideal for the survival of a number of
known harmful micro-organisms. “This activity simply doesn’t have any regulations in place yet, there has been no valuation of the treatment or of controls governing the water quality. This is why it cannot be installed here as an activity offered to the public, whether visitors or residents of our region.” He said the Department of Public Health has also indicted that the fish spa treatment offered as a therapy must
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comply with the rules, have proper authorisation and be registered with the health services. However, there are no official guidelines available yet, here in Tenerife. But it’s not just here that authorities are looking at safety issues related to the so-called ‘doctor fish’. Health experts are investigating the safety of fish pedicures precisely because of the concerns that this latest pampering craze could spread infections.
In the UK, the Health Protection Agency is concerned this could spread diseases from person to person through open wounds. A Health Protection Agency spokesperson said, “Following a number of enquiries to the HPA from local environmental health officers over the past several months, the agency is currently investigating if there are any potential risks of infection associated with the commercial use of fish spa pedicures in the UK.
“Alongside colleagues in environmental health, Health Protection Scotland and the Health and Safety Laboratory, the HPA will examine the most up to date evidence of any possible risks associated with garra rufa fish pedicures and will publish guidelines that will be available UK-wide. “The HPA and Health Protection Scotland is currently unaware of any cases of infection associated with the use of the fish spas pedicures in the UK.”
The tiny garra rufa fish, the “doctor fish” as they are affectionately called, are actually a type of toothless carp that nibble on the dead skin. While their use in spas across the UK has been gaining in popularity, despite the HPA investigation raising safety issues, in the US, however, some states have banned their use over health and safety concerns of having the same fish clean the skin of multiple customers.