PARIS (Reuters) -
French politicians called on Tuesday for
stiff penalties of up to three years jail and heavy fines
against "pro-anorexia" Web sites and publications that
encourage girls and young women to starve themselves.
"Giving young girls advice about how to lie to their
doctors, telling them what kinds of food are easiest to vomit,
encouraging them to torture themselves whenever they take any
kind of food is not part of liberty of expression," Health
Minister Roselyne Bachelot said in a speech in parliament.
"The messages sent out here are messages of death. Our
country should have the means of finding and prosecuting those
behind sites like this," she said, during a debate on a
proposed law against incitement to anorexia.
Aimed mainly at so-called "pro-ana" blogs and Web sites
where anorexics share experiences and tips on subjects like
appetite suppressants, the law would impose penalties of two
years plus a fine of 30,000 euros ($47,450) for "incitement to
excessive thinness by publicising of any kind."
The penalties would rise to three years in jail plus 45,000
euros fine in cases where a death was caused by anorexia.
The bill was adopted by the lower house of parliament on
Tuesday and must go before the Senate before it becomes law.
Health experts say eating disorders among adolescent girls
and young women are fuelled by insidious pressure from
advertising, films, television and other media to match
unattainable levels of physical attractiveness.
But they say many also seek to exercise a perverse form of
control over their lives by severely limiting their weight and
the amount they eat, a tendency reflected in many of the
comments on "pro-ana" Web sites.
In France, the health ministry estimates there are around
30,000-40,000 anorexics, 90 percent of them young women and
there has been increasing debate over the condition since
Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died from anorexia in 2006.
The fashion industry, at the centre of the controversy
because of the ubiquity of slender models on catwalks and
magazine covers has taken steps to exclude unhealthily thin
models from a number of major shows.
French authorities agreed a voluntary charter with the
industry last year but did not impose a compulsory ban on
underweight models.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie)
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