French government calls to ban pro-anorexia websites

French politicians called on Tuesday for stiff penalties of up to three years jail and heavy fines against "pro-anorexia" websites and publications that encourage girls and young women to starve themselves.

"Giving young girls advice about how to lie to their doctors, telling them what kinds of food are easiest to vomit, encouraging them to torture themselves whenever they take any kind of food is not part of liberty of expression," Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said in a speech in parliament.

"The messages sent out here are messages of death. Our country should have the means of finding and prosecuting those behind sites like this," she said, during a debate on a proposed law against incitement to anorexia.

Aimed mainly at so-called "pro-ana" blogs and websites where anorexics share experiences and tips on subjects like appetite suppressants, the law would impose penalties of two years plus a fine of 30,000 euros (24,150 pounds) for "incitement to excessive thinness by publicising of any kind."

The penalties would rise to three years in jail plus 45,000 euros fine in cases where a death was caused by anorexia.