A report by the organizers of London Fashion Week is calling for children under the age of 16 to be banned from the catwalk.

The British Fashion Council report also recommends models be screened for eating disorders, but stops short of recommending they be disqualified from Fashion Week for being too thin.

The report, written by a panel of fashion designers, models and an eating-disorder specialist, asks modelling agencies to certify that their models have been examined for eating disorders. 

It recommends that starting next fall, models arrange and pay for the certification themselves from an accredited list of medical experts.

The panel states that models are part of an at-risk group of professionals that includes athletes, classical ballet dancers and jockeys. It estimates up to 40 per cent of those working in such professions have eating disorders, compared with an estimated three per cent of the overall population.

"The facts of the modelling profession are not so glamorous; it is peopled by young and potentially vulnerable workers — the majority of them women — who are self-employed and do not have adequate support," the report's authors write.

Instead of weigh-ins, the British Fashion Council hopes to combat eating disorders through medical tests, mentoring programs and workshops. The report says most models don't have enough information to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

It's not the first time the fashion industry has grappled publicly with the issue of weight.

Last fall, organizers of Spain's top annual fashion show rejected five models as being too thin to appear in the event. The models were over five feet seven inches tall and weighed less than 120 pounds.

And in Paris, the French Fashion Federation plans to introduce recommendations for the industry to promote awareness about the health risks of being too thin.

With files by the Associated Press