Israel Passes Law to Ban Emaciated Models

A new Israeli law prohibits unnaturally thin models from employment in the country’s media and fashion industry.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the law enforces the minimum weight by requiring models to present “a medical report no older than three months at every shoot for the Israeli market, stating that they are not malnourished by World Health Organization (WHO) standards.” WHO designates “malnourished” as anyone with a BMI under 18.5.

In addition, the law requires Israeli advertisements to clearly disclose whether the models’ appearance was digitally altered through photo manipulation software like Photoshop.

The law comes after the 2007 death of an Israeli model that died of anorexia. Following 34-year-old Hila Elmaliah’s death, her friend and photographer Adi Barkan began campaigning for laws restricting employment for severely underweight models. Barkan told Associated Press reporters that in the past 30 years of his career, young women have become “skinnier and sicker while struggling to fit the shrinking mold of what the industry considers attractive.”

The law went into effect January 1, but was passed by the Israeli parliament in March of 2012. Israel is the first country to pass such legislation.

Flickr photo courtesy of Swamibu