PARIS — France’s health minister says she supports plans to criminalize the use of advertising with anorexic models in France.
The measure would put France, a world capital of fashion, with countries like Israel and Spain that are cracking down on the glorification of dangerously thin models.
Socialist lawmaker Olivier Veran, who is also a doctor, wants to add language to an upcoming health bill to make it illegal to employ models deemed to have an eating disorder. Modeling agencies would have to produce a medical report showing that their models have maintained a healthy mass-to-height ratio.
A second change in the law would make it a crime to glorify “excessive thinness,” which would target those who run pro-anorexia websites, punishable by up to one year in prison and $10,575 in fines.