France passes laws to curtail anorexia, banning too-thin models and their agents, modeling houses

Way to go, France!

France will ban excessively thin models and expose modeling agents and the fashion houses that hire them to possible fines and even jail, under a new law passed on Friday.

France joins Italy, Spain and Israel which all adopted laws against too-thin models on catwalks or in advertising campaigns in early 2013.

How exactly will they determine what is "too thin"?

"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 bill said.

The lawmaker behind the bill previously said models would have to present a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18, about 121 pounds for a height of 5.7 feet, before being hired for a job and for a few weeks afterwards.

The law, passed through lower house of parliament, could result in six months of prison and a fine of around $82,000 (€75,000) for agencies in violation. It will also crack down on websites promoting audiences to "seek excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions for a prolonged period of time, resulting in risk of mortality or damage to health"—violation of which could also result in prison or large fines.

According to research at the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, approximately 1 percent of adolescent females suffer from anorexia, and eating disorders have the highest rate of mortality of all mental disorders.