The £4.5 million threat to London Fashion Week

A new row over size zero models has called into question the future of millions of pounds worth of public funding for London Fashion Week, the Evening Standard reveals today.

This week's decision by the British Fashion Council to abandon health certificates aimed at guarding against models harming themselves in an attempt to be super-thin has caused dismay and anger among campaigners. Now a deal to provide Fashion Week with £4.5 million - its core funding - may be at risk.

At the same time another major recommendation designed to clean up the industry - random drug testing at catwalk shows - has also been ignored. And this comes as a new drug, clenbuterol, which has quickly become known as the "size zero pill", has become an alternative to the cocaine and amphetamines that have been part of the fashion scene for years.

Fashion Week's core funding was granted by the London Development Agency, which was keen to see the capital consolidate its position among the big players - Paris, Milan and New York.

Mindful of concerns over size zero - highlighted in a campaign by the Evening Standard - the LDA stipulated that measures were brought in to ensure models were not sacrificing their health to meet an aesthetic ideal that, for many, was impossible to achieve naturally.

Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat who heads up economic development, culture, sport and tourism at the London Assembly, was at the forefront of moves to safeguard models' well-being.

She said yesterday: "The British Fashion Council originally described medical certificates as 'eminently sensible' and gave the impression it was keen. I find it extraordinary that it is now saying they are unworkable. There are serious issues at stake. Currently, one in 40 women has bulimia or anorexia. The numbers are increasing and the sufferers are getting younger. Yet the BFC seems oblivious to the fact that huge numbers of impressionable young girls are being influenced by the images they see on the catwalks."

It was a point taken up by medical professionals and eating disorder charities as the BFC decision became known. The current funding contract has two years to run but Ms Doocey says she will be raising the issue "as a matter of urgency" with Mayor Boris Johnson and the LDA, which is likely to place a question mark over any future funding.

HEALTH certificates were proposed by the Model Health Inquiry, set up last year as a response to growing anxieties that the "heroin chic" look was endangering not only the models who had to create it but young women who copy it. Last year, Eliana Ramos, a teenage model, died after going on an extreme diet to capture the size zero look. Six months earlier, her sister, Luisel Ramos, 23, collapsed and died on a catwalk in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. She had suffered complications from anorexia linked to dieting.

Tessa Jowell, then Culture Secretary, supported the idea of certification and a feasibility study was carried out. Models, agencies and industry professionals were consulted and an outline plan for health certificates, based on an interview and check-up with a medical practitioner, was drawn up.

But the idea met firm resistance in the world's other fashion capitals. The Chambre Syndicale in Paris felt it did not have the powers to impose a certification regime and the Camera Nazionale della Moda in Milan said it preferred a system of voluntary regulation.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America said it did not believe health certificates were an "appropriate recommendation". Executive director Steven Kolb said: "We felt it was wrong to force a girl to have a physical examination, especially because the signs of a problem aren't always obvious."

The certification proposal was one of 14 recommendations made by the Model Health Inquiry last September. A number of the proposals have been taken up, including a ban on models aged under 16. The British Fashion Council has also ordered a clean-up of backstage areas at shows, prohibiting alcohol and drugs.

But the decision against introducing random drug testing has become a cause for concern, especially with the rise of easily obtainable slimming remedies which, it is claimed, may have unforeseen and long-term consequences.

The so-called size zero pill clenbuterol is easily obtainable over the internet and one of the main suppliers, the selfstyled Clenbuterol King, boasts of an efficient service to countries outside America, including Britain.

But clenbuterol is not licensed for use by humans. It was developed to treat asthma in horses. Bodybuilders in LA discovered it helped reduce fat very quickly and it acquired a reputation as a "safe" alternative to steroids. As it became known as a wonder drug for achieving body shape it was taken up by slimmers and models.

Clenbuterol, and a number of other drugs, including fashion industry staples cocaine and amphetamines, offer a quick-fix for models who need to get down to a weight to achieve a certain look. But at what risk? Part of the reasoning behind health certification was that it would spot potentially dangerous drug use.

Dr Adrienne Key, a specialist in eating disorders, was an adviser on the Model Health Inquiry and she was firmly behind the idea of certificates. She told the Standard: "The British Fashion Council's decision is incredibly disappointing. This is too important to give up. The industry is saying it doesn't want these things, but my argument is that it can't afford not to have them.

"Drug use is a concern and it would have been picked up during the check for a certificate. In the City, for example, there is random drug testing but there is no legal framework in fashion for that to be done. The models are not employees. A clinician examining a girl for a health certificate would have picked up on whether she was endangering her health with a drug. Now that has been lost."

CHIEF executive of the British Fashion Council Hilary Riva defended the decision not to adopt health certificates. She told the Standard that while the model health certificate was a "step forward", it presented "practical problems".

"To work effectively it would need to be an international initiative," she said. "I have been in personal contact with my counterparts in Milan, Paris and New York and none of them considers such a mandatory scheme to be helpful or necessary in terms of them policing the age and health status of their catwalk models."

Ms Riva said the feasibility study encountered opposition among models, model agents, casting agents and show producers. "They felt strongly that models were being singled out as a group in a very discriminatory manner," she added.

The model Erin O'Connor said a feasibility study into health certificates had been invaluable. "However, based on the findings, I feel that to ask all models to produce a mandatory certificate of health compromises their dignity and potentially infringes their human rights," she added.

An LDA spokesman said: "The British Fashion Council has made significant strides to promote and protect model health in London following last year's inquiry. We welcome the development of a broader healthier model programme which focuses on the health and welfare of models, not just on eating disorders."

Campaigners argue that models are in a unique situation because of the cult of size zero and the effect it has on young people. Susan Ringwood, chief executive of the eating disorder charity Beat, said abandoning health certificates was "a missed opportunity".

"London should have made a stand," she said. "Young people are drawn to modelling like moths to a flame and they are vulnerable. Apart from the models themselves there are all the 12- to 14-year-olds who are enormously influenced by the catwalk look.

"The evidence shows more and more girls are being admitted to hospital with eating disorders, and cultural pressures play a big part in that. We have called on the fashion industry to introduce some diversity and some designers - John Galliano, Vivienne Westwood - have designed clothes for what might be described as normal shapes. But most of the rest seem to be slaves to size zero."

RISE OF THE SIZE ZERO PILL

Clenbuterol has become known as a wonder drug for losing weight. Anecdotal evidence suggests it is widely used among models and actors. Britney Spears is alleged to have been using it for some time and last month the American swimmer Jessica Hardy tested positive for the drug, incurring a two-year ban.

Because it has never been tested for human use, possible long-term sideeffects are unknown. Despite this, a US-based website run by the self-styled "Clenbuterol King" sells the drug to anyone who asks for it.

His website offers 200 clenbuterol hydrochloride tablets for $139. This, according to the website, is a reduction of $100 on the usual price. The site is introduced by a photograph of a woman measuring her waist. The tape suggests it is less than 20in. King Clen, as he is dubbed by his clients, discusses side-effects on the website. He says they can include muscle cramps and "slight shaking", but there is no cause for alarm and this is simply because "clenbuterol is so good at what it does". If more severe side-effects are noticed - such as dizziness, tremors and vomiting - he suggests "reduce your dosage slightly".

There is a warning that the drug should not be used by pregnant women or by anyone with a heart problem. Questions of legality are not addressed on the Clenbuterol King website but the information on shipping contains this note: "In order to be discreet, your order has been packed within a packet of something else. You will be told what your product is labelled once it has been dispatched. YOU MUST check inside the packages that you are sent."