By Maria Baluch

The constant battle over weight in the fashion industry is under scrutiny once again. According to the New York Times, the French Parliament is debating a bill that would set the minimum weight for women to work as models. This is in an effort to combat anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder that many models have been known to struggle with. Anorexia, which can be fatal, causes people to obsess over their weight.

The debate over anorexia would rise to a whole new level in Paris, which the Times called the “spiritual capital of the fashion world,” if the legislation were approved. Modeling agencies that employ models whose body mass index measurements do not meet the minimum healthy threshold of about 18 or 18.5 would face “criminal penalties,” with a fine of possibly $83,000 and serve six months in prison.

Although anorexia is a health concern for models, a criminal consequence seems to punish them, rather than their agencies, by not allowing them to be employed. Especially considering that some of the world’s top models, like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, are less than this minimum standard with body masses of about 16 and 17, respectively, according to Style Has No Size, a blog by stylist Edith Dohmen. Both seem to be quite physically healthy.

The internationally accepted body mass index standards suggest that a woman who is 5-foot-7 should weigh at least 120 pounds, according to the Times. Although 5-foot-7 is typically the minimum height for models, I don’t believe many meet the 120-pound requirement.

For instance, my friend who has been modeling for several years is 5-foot-7, but she weighs just a little less than 120 pounds. This isn’t because she starves herself or because of her “model diet,” but simply because she has a fast metabolism.

Most people with thin figures, not just models, are too often accused of having anorexia, when in fact, they just can’t gain the weight because of fast metabolism. Not to mention that my friend eats whatever she feels like eating, and most of the time her diet involves her love of Dunkin Donuts.

Nonetheless, modeling agencies should definitely be held accountable if they purposely push models to lose weight and be thinner. Over the past decade, several models lost unhealthy amounts of weight, resulting in frightening figures and even death.

French model Isabelle Caro disclosed her disorder to the world when she posed for an anti-anorexia campaign in 2007. Controversial images of her skeletal figure were posted on billboards. After years of anorexia-related illnesses, she died of acute respiratory illness in 2010, according to CBS. Reports of her death said it was unclear if anorexia caused her death.

Instead of passing a law, which seems to punish models because they can’t be employed if they don’t meet a certain weight requirement, the legislation should promote a healthy lifestyle.

“We can’t resolve it with a law but we can begin a public health policy to prevent and protect and limit the number of those suffering from anorexia,” Oliver Véran, a neurologist and a member Parliament’s lower house, told the Times.

It is a sensitive subject and a rocky debate, but the fashion industry should encourage women everywhere to eat a healthy diet and maintain a similar lifestyle, instead of promoting unrealistic thin figures that models can only achieve by starving themselves.