But one official fears lack of enforcement muscle will mean the ban won't protect unsuspecting customers.

"This industry has carte blanche to do anything it wants because we don't police [it]," said Karen Lessler, a Suffolk County manicurist and member of the state Appearance Enhancement Advisory Committee.

The committee, which oversees education and licensing of the beauty industry, voted unanimously Friday to bar methyl methacrylate from New York salons.

MMA, a liquid used to build artificial acrylic nails, was virtually eliminated from the industry 25 years ago by a federal court action.

But The Post reported April 18 that the perilous poison is now being used in discount salons because it costs only 25 percent as much as safer chemicals and creates rock-hard, unbreakable fake nails.

The ban will not go into effect until the state Department of State collects enough proof that MMA is harmful - and the secretary of state and the governor's Office on Regulatory Reform sign off on it.

The process is expected to take several months.

MMA can rip nails off fingers, cause severe rashes and nerve problems and, over the long term, damage livers, kidneys and fetuses, according to federal agencies.

The chemical is sold to dental and heavy industry suppliers, who illegally divert it to beauty shops.

"Arlene," a 50-year-old Manhattan business owner who asked that her real name not be used in this article, blames MMA for nails that peel off almost as soon as they grow in - and for unexplained liver damage.

"The manicurist was saying they used dental supplies and automotive supplies and I didn't think twice about it," said Arlene, who believes she was exposed to the chemical in a Los Angeles salon 15 years ago.

Tracy Sullivan, a Seymour, Conn., bartender, endured an itchy, painful rash all over her body for a year - and never connected it with her fake nails until she read about MMA in The Post.

"I just thought I had an allergic reaction to something - but I never knew what it was," said Sullivan, 24.

After the vote Friday, Lessler complained the department's 15 inspectors won't be able to make a dent in MMA use.

Daniel Shapiro, assistant director of special projects for the state Division of Licensing, said angry customers and competitors will report MMA salons.

The division and the state Department of Health have been investigating MMA for several months.

The substance is more popular - but not standard - in beauty shops run by Koreans and Vietnamese, two groups that have cornered the discount-nail market.

An Sik Nam, president of The Korean American Nail Salon Association of New York, said he recently started spreading word about the dangers of the chemical in the Korean media.