In an article published in today's New York Times Fashion Diary ("Still Too Thin, and Getting Younger"), Guy Trebay writes about the bodies walking runaways getting younger and younger. And they're using drugs, cigarettes and dieting to stay thin.
Despite the outcry last year about the South American models who died from eating disorders, the supposedly resulting monitoring of U.S. models' weight is apparently not being done -- or not being enforced, Trebay reports.
Not only that, but he declares that the "Chanel pouchettes" (guess that's fashionese for itty bitty purses) of fashion models can be found to contain "currently common tools of the trade like Vicodin, clenbuterol and Marlboro Lights."
Vicodin, of course, is the prescription painkiller Eminem liked so much he immortalized it on "The Slim Shady LP," and a drug better appreciated in the fashion business for its appetite-suppressing powers than for the truly unappetizing truth that it is only slightly less addictive than heroin. Clenbuterol is a steroid used by athletes, horse trainers and models to reduce body fat (one study of clenbuterol in horses showed significant weight reduction in a matter of weeks). "A lot of girls are using it now to keep their weight down," said Kelly Cutrone, the founder of People's Revolution, a fashion production company.
The one thing you will never hear anyone utter a peep of concern about when it comes to models is smoking. Yet it's pretty common knowledge that they smoke more than long-haul truckers, road workers or Sylvia Sidney in "Beetlejuice."
Trebay also reports that University of Florida researchers who analyzed the dieting and smoking practices of 8,000 adolescents recently published a study establishing "a connection between dieting, smoking and drug use" among girls. They found that "dieting seemed to lead to smoking and for reasons any model could explain: nicotine suppresses the appetite."
Trebay points points out that animal studies have linked food deprivation to the use of stimulants.
When the fashion industry is used to its next fit of moral dudgeon and wakes up again to the problems of underweight girls and the largely hidden abuse of things like clenbuterol, it will be worth reminding them that there is good science demonstrating that when you starve an animal, you make it a lot more vulnerable to self-abuse. (Emphasis mine.)
He may be speaking to the fashion industry, but I hope all those who have declared "war on obesity" and have launched "childhood obesity prevention" campaigns are also listening.
Read the entire article here.
