France bans pro-anorexia websites, which promote extreme thinness and methods for self-starvation. Will Australia outlaw them, too?

So it has happened: France is to ban pro-anorexia websites promoting extreme thinness and methods for self-starvation.

A French plan to outlaw websites and blogs that encourage young girls to become dangerously thin is stirring much debate among fashion gurus, health experts and politicians. The bill adopted by the National Assembly this week would make it a crime punishable by up to three years in jail to "incite" anorexia or extreme thinness on websites, magazines and in advertisements.

The measure targets pro-anorexia websites that surfaced in the United States in the 1990s and have made their way to France, offering tips to girls who starve themselves in a self-destructive quest for beauty. "There has been an explosion of these sites over the past year," said right-wing deputy Valery Boyer, the author of the bill that goes before the Senate in the coming weeks for final approval.

Australia's Labor MP has called on the Government to follow France's lead against anorexia. She said she had been calling for ban on anorexia websites for some time. "It's something we really need to explore," Ms Burke said. "This is dangerous information on the internet."

The Government is developing a cyber-safety policy that includes internet service provider filtering for all Australian homes, schools and public computers, but there is no indication that pro-anorexia sites would be included in the "black list" created by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Nicola Roxon, the federal Minister for Health and Ageing, said the Government would consider whether any action regarding the sites was appropriate. But Bruce Billson, the Opposition spokesman for broadband, communications and the digital economy, said it would be difficult to regulate and it was the parents' responsibility. "Parents should maintain an active interest in the use of the internet by members of their family," he said.

Sarah McMahon, a psychologist from the Eating Disorders Foundation, said there were more than 1 million "pro-ana" (pro-anorexia) and "pro-mia" (pro-bulimia) websites. [These] normalise and strengthen the thoughts of people with eating disorders," she said. "People who use and put up these sites see it as a lifestyle choice and they reinforce that to each other … It's the only mental illness that is glamorised."

The Eating Disorder Foundation estimates that 5 per cent of Australians have an eating disorder, including about 330,000 people in NSW. "It would be great to legislate against these sites, but there are logistical issues that would make it very difficult," Ms McMahon said.