The bill would adopt measures including periodic health checkups.
Image via (cc) Flickr user MarieEly
Last spring, France banned excessive thinness in models. The move was in response to the 2010 death from anorexia of Isabelle Caro, a French fashion model who had posed for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness.
Now a bill by California Assembly member Marc Levine, who represents the Marin County suburbs of San Francisco, proposes that fashion models who want work would need a doctor to confirm that they have a healthy weight and are not suffering from an eating disorder.
“The evidence of eating disorders in the modeling industry is alarming,” Levine said in a statement. “This is a societal problem, as unhealthy models have become role models for young people. As California often leads the nation and the world, this bill will help assure that our children will see healthy images on magazines and fashion websites.”
Modeling agencies would have to be licensed by the California Labor Commissioner, and could be fined if they hire models who do not have a physician certifying that they’re healthy. The bill would require such measures as periodic health checkups, nutrition consultations, and medical testing for models.
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