France’s lower house of Parliament has approved a measure that would make it a crime to use anorexic models.
Other countries including Israel and Spain have also cracked down on the glorification of dangerously thin models. The French measure would only apply within France, but could have symbolic impact beyond because of its outsized influence on the fashion world.
Lawmakers adopted the amendment on Friday, as part of a larger public health bill working its way through the legislature.
They adopted a related amendment earlier this week targeting those who run pro-anorexia websites.
A similar measure in 2008 failed to get final approval in the French legislature.
Up to an estimated 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, 90 per cent of them women, according to the health ministry.
