France bans super-thin models in an effort to curb anorexia

France has become the latest country to pass a bill that could result in jail time for agencies using classified as “too thin.”

France will now require agencies to use models with a Body Mass Index of at least 18, according to Reuters. Other countries that are home to similar fashion industries worth billions of dollars, such as Italy and Spain, have passed measures relying on voluntary agency cooperation to protect models, but Isreal passed a more stringent ban in 2013.

Body Mass Index, or BMI, is measured in terms of a person’s weight to height ratio. Typically, a “normal” BMI is considered to be between 18.5 and 24.9. The French bill, passed by the government led by President Francois Hollande, states, “The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labor.”

The punishment for violating the new law could result in a fine of $82,000 and a prison sentence of up to six months for the agencies perpetrating the crime.

The bill also includes other measures designed to fight the glorification of eating disorders. “It’s important that the models are healthy, but it’s a little simplistic to think there won’t be any more anorexics if we get rid of very thin models,” said Isabelle Saint-Felix, the head of France’s National Union of Modeling Agencies. “When you look at the criteria behind anorexia, you can’t look only at the body mass index when other criteria are also involved.”

A second measure will come down hard on websites that encourage readers to “seek excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions for a prolonged period of time, resulting in risk of mortality or damage to health.” Transgressors could face up to a year in prison, and fines of over $100,000.

The bill also makes untagged photoshopping illegal. Websites and magazines must now mark any images photoshopped to make a model look thinner with the disclaimer that the photos “were manipulated.”

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