40% of models may have an eating disorder - but size-zero ban ruled out

Published on Saturday 15 September 2007 00:24

AN INQUIRY examining the health of models has fallen short of pushing for a ban on size-zero on the catwalk.

Instead, the Model Health Inquiry wants models to get "good health" certificates proving they are fit for work, while reiterating calls for under-16s to be banned from catwalks during London Fashion Week.

The inquiry believes that up to 40 per cent of models could have some form of eating disorder, and made 14 recommendations.

To combat the problem, the inquiry wants to introduce certificates - paid for by the models - proving they are of sound health, physically and mentally. Agencies would be required to check the certificates before putting models on their books.

Models with acute types of eating disorders - such as anorexia - would be unlikely to be deemed fit for work.

But girls with milder forms of eating disorders could still model if their doctor agreed, according to the inquiry chairwoman, Baroness Kingsmill.

The inquiry, which was set up in March by the British Fashion Council (BFC) to tackle health issues among London Fashion Week models, refused to call for a blanket ban on size-zero models, saying size and body mass index (BMI) were not reliable indicators of health.

However, the ban on under-16 catwalk models has already been taken on board by the BFC, which has written it into the contracts of designers showing at London Fashion Week, launched tomorrow.

Further recommendations include the statutory checks on adults working with child models, chaperones for those aged 16 to 18, and the introduction of random drug tests during the week-long event.

Baroness Kingsmill said: " Evidence of the vulnerability of women in the modelling profession was startling and models are at high risk of eating disorders.

"However, there is a deep lack of knowledge about eating disorders in the fashion industry and a widespread desire among many of its constituents to radically improve the current situation by banning the under-16s, introducing health certification and ensuring professional standards of education and research."

The inquiry's recommendations are not legally binding and the onus is on the fashion industry to regulate itself.

But Dr Jeanette Downey, an expert in eating disorders at the Priory Clinic in Glasgow, believed the report did not go far enough.

"I think it's a starting point, and it's very good that there has been recognition things could not go on as they were, but I think that it does not go far enough," she said.

She added the refusal to set a minimum BMI of 18 meant that any health checks by doctors would have little substance.

WHAT REPORT CALLS FOR

THE Model Health Inquiry report also calls for models aged 16 to 18 to be chaperoned on shoots, a models' health education and awareness programme, a study of eating disorders among models and an advice and support website for models, parents, agencies and casting directors.