A California lawmaker has recently proposed a bill that would require fashion models to get a clean bill of health before they are allowed to appear in a fashion gig in the state.
If this bill is made into a law, all fashion models will need a doctor to testify that they have healthy weight and that they don't have any eating disorder.
Marc Levin, the California state Assembly member who proposed the bill, is pursuing the initiatives made by other countries in the fight against anorexia nervosa and similar eating disorders. These disorders are prevalent among fashion models that are being forced to lose weight so that they won't lose work.
Although anorexia nervosa has been the most notorious of all eating disorders there are other similar disorders that can cause a person's weight to drop down to dangerous levels. There are persistent rumors that most fashion models are suffering from any one of these disorders in pursuit of their profession.
Other eating disorders that produce similar effects on one's weight are Bulimia Nervosa, Binge eating, Anorexia Athletica, Orthorexia, and EDNOS. The last type of eating disorder does not meet the specific criteria for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, the two defined eating disorders.
"The evidence of eating disorders in the modeling industry is alarming," said Marc Levine, in a statement on Monday. He is a Democrat representing the Marin County suburbs of San Francisco, California.
Levin introduced his bill on Feb. 19 which calls for modeling agencies to be licensed by the California Labor Commissioner. The bill also requires such agencies to be fined if they hire fashion models that are not certified by a physician as to their fitness to work.
"As a former fashion model and an eating disorder survivor, I know that this legislation is critically needed," said Nikki DuBose in a statement. She is a former model turned advocate.
