The French National Assembly approved yesterday a new set of laws targeting the worrying promotion of ultra-thinness by the fashion industry.

Valerie Boyer, the bill’s author and a member of France’s ruling party said: “It's time for public action against this scourge," according to the Washington Post. She also underlined the fact that more than 40,000 French people, mostly women and young girls, suffer from the devastating disease.

The alarm on the dangerous issue was set two years ago when two Latin American anorexic models died, showing that the matter must not be taken lightly. Ever since that incident, the European countries, especially the ones involved in the fashion industry, have been making efforts to protect and assist the health of fashion models. The problem does not stop there, as there is a large number of people looking up to them as role models and aspiring to be just like them.

Spain excluded models with less than a government-specified body mass index; Italy banned young girls under 16 from the catwalks and requested that every model should have a health certificate. In preparation for London’s Fashion Week, Britain demanded models with anorexia to prove their participation in an eating disorder treatment program.

French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot, who strongly believes in the proposed law, said it is going to aid the moderation of advice on how to become ultra-thin being spread through pro-anorexia sites on the internet.

"Encouraging young girls to lie to their doctors, advising them on foods that are easier to regurgitate and inciting them to beat themselves up each time they eat is not freedom of expression," Ms Bachelot told the assembly, as quoted by BBC News.