French Parliament voted Friday for a new law to try and eliminate anorexia in the country by banning super skinny models from hitting the catwalks.
The Associated Press reported that the ban will impose a penalty of fines or even jail time as it will now be a crime for any fashion agency to hire overly-thin models.
The law is a major part of President Francois Hollande’s continued efforts to fight eating disorders such as anorexia.
"It's not just about protecting the models but also teenagers, because this body-image pressure also affects them and contributes to the emergence of eating disorders and tendencies to eat less and less," said Olivier Veran, a neurologist and legislator who championed the anorexia measure.
Reuters noted that France is not the first country to have such a ban. A similar law was in put in place in Israel two years ago.
Under France’s ban, it will also be illegal to condone eating disorders and retouch photos that heavily alter the subject’s body appearance to make them look thinner.