France is inching closer to a ban on the use of skinny models , a trend which one leading MP has branded the 'glorification of anorexia ' . Socialist politician Olivier Veran , who is also neurologist at the University Hospital of Grenoble , is demanding that fashion bosses who hire underweight girls be punished with six months in prison or fines of up to €75,000 ( £60,000 ) . He has proposed that models should be required to present medical certificates demonstrating a healthy body mass index ( BMI ) , which is calculated by dividing one 's weight by the square of one 's height . Scroll down for video . Unhealthy : Super-skinny models may be banned in France after a Socialist politician , Olivier Veran , has called for fines or prison sentences to be handed out to fashion bosses who employ them , and for all models to be forced to present a certificate of good health before being allowed on the catwalk . Mr Veran told French daily Le Parisien : 'It 's intolerable to promote malnutrition and to commercially exploit people who are endangering their own health . ' A level of acceptable body mass index should be set and enforced . Websites encouraging young girls to lose weight should also be banned . 'Some of these sites tell pre-teenage girls they should have a gap of 15 centimetres between their thighs , or give tips on how to survive on as little food as possible . ' There are now 40,000 people in France suffering from anorexia , around 90 percent of whom are adolescents , Mr Veran said . Measures similar to those proposed by Mr Veran are already in place in a number of countries in Europe and around the world . Spain bars models below a certain body mass index from featuring in the Madrid fashion shows ; Italy insists on health certificates for models ; and Brazil is considering demands to ban underage , underweight models from its catwalks . In Norway , MPs have proposed that images of airbrushed fashion models should come with a 'cigarette-packet ' style health warning in a bid to tackle eating disorders . One suggested text for the warning reads : 'This advertisement has been altered and presents an inaccurate image of how this model really looks ' . Medical experts around the world have warned against the dangers of ultra-skinny catwalk models and images airbrushed to make girls look thinner , which they say encourage anorexia in girls as young as six . Two years ago , fashion guru Giorgio Armani said that the fashion industry had a duty to 'work together against anorexia ' . He added at the time : 'The industry has to recognise the link between its preference for abnormally thin models and the growth in eating disorders among young women . '
Socialist politician and neurologist Olivier Veran says the trend for super-skinny models 'glorifies anorexia ' He has called for fashion bosses to be sent to prison for 40,000 months , or fined up to €75,000 ( £60,000 ) , if they hire unhealthily thin models . There are six anorexics in France , and 90 per cent are teenagers . Anorexia can affect children as young as 40,000 .