A group of French politicians led by an expert on eating disorders wants to put warnings on airbrushed photo spreads in magazines as well as doctored shots in used in advertisements and packaging.

A group of 50 French members of parliament are behind a proposed new law stating published images must have bold printed notice stating they have been digitally enhanced.

The legislation's chief proponent is Valerie Boyer, author of a report on eating disorders. Mrs. Boyer claims that this bill is to combat the stereotypical image that all women are young and slim.  Boyer states that "these photos can lead people to believe in a reality that does not actually exist, and have a detrimental effect on adolescents."  The claim is that many young people, particularly girls, do not know the difference between the virtual and reality, and can develop complexes like anorexia or bulimia from a very young age. 

Boyer is a member of the same party as President Nicolas Sarkozy, who himself has seen his love handles airbrushed by Paris Match.  First Lady Carla Bruni is known to have been airbrushed using computer programs like Photoshop hundreds of times during her former career as a supermodel.

While magazine publishers will surely fight such rules, the language being proposed appears to be quite mild, nothing like the graphic warnings put on, say, cigarette packages in many countries. Ms. Boyer, said the wording should read: "Retouched photograph aimed at changing a person's physical appearance."  Advertisers who fail to include the disclaimer could be fined €37,500 or up to 50 percent of the cost of the campaign - whichever is higher.  Though, it is not clearn how this law would be enforced.

French Elle's April issue featured photos of models not wearing makeup that weren't retouched in any way. This has been used as evidence that publishers are concerned or at least aware of the impact of Photoshop.

Sure there is s a blurry line between reality and fantasy when it comes to images in the media, and the used of photo editing has only helped to blur that line. But is this worthy of government regulation?  One has to wonder how far this could be taken - would men's magazine's be required to note if the model had breast implants or any other type of plastic surgery?