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N.Y. considers banning ultrathin fashion models

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York City Council member Thursday proposed pushing sponsors to ban abnormally thin models from walking New York Fashion Week's runways.

Council member Gail Brewer wants fashion houses to ban any model with a body mass index of less than 18.5 -- the cutoff for the World Health Organization's definition of "normal."

Brewer said she wants models to be educated on nutrition and designers to encourage healthful lifestyles. (Watch stick-thin models strut the runway )

"We want the designers to offer some clothes that are a little bit more robust," she also told CNN, "and we certainly don't want people under the age of 16 to be modeling."

Madrid Fashion Week set a BMI limit of 18 in September, and Italian designers in December agreed to health and age guidelines for runway models, The Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday, Assemblyman Jose Rivera of the Bronx introduced a resolution in the state legislature to generate standards to protect the health of teenage models and entertainers, AP reported.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America issued recommendations in January to help bulimia, anorexia and other health problems among models.

Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston died in November at age 21. She was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed just 88 pounds, for a BMI of 13.4.

WHO defines normal BMI as 18.5 to 24.9.

"Being exposed to an environment with a lot of emphasis on thinness can put someone with a predisposition to eating disorders in a very high-risk situation," Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer, an associate professor of medicine at Albany Medical Center, told AP.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Final leg of world tour brings Obama to London U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with British Prime Gordon Brown in London Saturday on the last leg of his weeklong overseas tour.

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