French lawmakers adopt bill that could make it illegal to promote extreme thinness

In image-conscious France, it may soon be a crime to glamorize the ultra-thin. A new French bill would crack down on Web sites that advise anorexics how to starve — and could be used to hit fashion industry heavyweights, too.

Parliament's lower house adopted the unusual and groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal to incite extreme thinness. It recommends fines of up to euro45,000 (US$71,000) and three-year prison sentences for offenders. It next goes to the Senate, in the coming weeks.

Fashion industry experts said that, if passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere and — given France's longtime status as a fashion capital — could send shock waves through the industry worldwide.

It was the latest of measures proposed after the 2006 anorexia-linked death of a Brazilian model prompted efforts throughout the international fashion industry to address the health repercussions of using ultra-thin models.

The draft law is short on specifics. Critics noted that it doesn't spell out who it is targeting or even define "extreme thinness."

Doctors and psychologists treating patients with anorexia nervosa — a disorder characterized by an extreme fear of becoming overweight — welcomed the French effort, but said anorexia's link with media images remains hazy.

For the bill's backers, the message behind the measure is important enough.

The bill's author, conservative French lawmaker Valery Boyer, said she wanted to encourage discussion about women's health and body image. Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Web sites that encourage young girls to starve should not be protected by freedom of expression.

So-called "pro-ana" — for pro-anorexia — sites and blogs have flourished in the United States and beyond, often hosted by adolescents sharing stories of how they deprive their bodies of nourishment.

French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter last week on promoting healthier body images. In 2007, Spain banned from catwalks models whose body mass-to-height ratio is below 18.

Bill author Boyer said such measures did not go far enough.

Her bill has focused attention on pro-anorexia Web sites that, for instance, give advice on how to eat an apple a day — and nothing else.

The sites claim to provide emotional support for people who want to become anorexic. Photos of waif-like celebrities are given as "Thinspirations" on one blog, along with a list of advice on "how to skip meals." The site's host writes that she is not yet 15.

Boyer said in a telephone interview that her proposed legislation would enable a judge to sanction those responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose "thinness altered her health. That is the objective of this text," she said — without specifying who in particular might be prosecuted.

"The socio-cultural and media environment seems to favor the emergence of troubled nutritional behavior, and that is why I think it necessary to act," she said. Boyer insisted that she wasn't out to punish models or anorexics themselves.

The bill would make it illegal to "provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or directly compromise health."

The bill would empower judges to imprison offenders for up to two years and impose fines of up to euro30,000 (about US$47,000). Punishment would increase to three years in prison and euro45,000 ($71,000) in cases where a victim dies of an eating disorder.

Socialist lawmaker Catherine Coutelle said the bill was introduced to lawmakers too quickly — less than two weeks ago, on April 3 — to allow for thorough discussion before Tuesday's vote.

Legislator Jean-Marie Le Guen argued against legislating "social norms" and said there was no proof that anorexia comes from imitation. "What is extreme thinness?" he asked.

While the health dangers of anorexia are obvious, opponents said it should be up to parents and doctors — not the government — to deal with the reasons for eating disorders.

Didier Grumbach, president of the influential French Federation of Couture, strongly disapproved of legislating body weight.

"Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny," he said. "That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France."

Modeling agencies had mixed reactions.

Patrick Lemire of Marilyn modeling agency in Paris, said the bill only affected pro-anorexia Web sites, but brushed off concerns about its affect on his industry.

"We don't have anything to do with health problems of the anorexic kind. The models (at our agency) are thin, but not anorexic," he said.

Juliette Menager, casting director for Joule Studio in Paris, said clearer guidelines on model weight could be a good thing.

"There is definitely an enormous problem," she said, describing some demands from magazine stylists as "completely sick." She said some models she represents lose even more weight for fashion shows.

"They are so thin during the shows, much more than the rest of the year. Sometimes it's really scary, like a concentration camp."

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Associated Press writer Emmanuel Georges-Picot and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.