At least six women were dropped from the show as a result of the new rules.

In a statement issued last week, organizers said they were "making every effort to ensure models whose body mass index appears low or could indicate a problem with anorexia, be withdrawn from shows and directed to professional help in the areas of nutrition or eating disorders."

Chantal Durivage, co-president of Sensation Mode, organizers of Montreal Fashion Week, says the health of young women is at the forefront of the decision.

"We are spearheading this campaign because the health of our young people is important to us and we wish to make a positive contribution to the challenges of public health," Durivage said in a statement.

Dr. Howard Steiger, chief of the eating disorders program at Douglas Hospital, helped push for the new rules for Fashion Week in Montreal.

"I'm not saying these images cause eating disorders, but they contribute in a major way to people thinking they have to be thinner," Steiger says.

Organizers of the industry event, which runs from Oct. 9-11, hope the ban will generate similar measures in other Canadian cities.

"We are intent on having measures that foster this objective in place by 2008, in major events like the Montreal and Toronto fashion and design festivals as well as Montreal Fashion Week," Durivage said.

Fashion industry debate

The policy shift has further fueled the debate over women's health and age appropriateness in the global fashion industry.

Last month, the British Fashion Council banned models under the age of 16 from walking the runways and said models participating in next year's London Fashion Week will have to provide a medical certificate attesting to their good health.

The move followed the starvation-related deaths of South American models Ana Carolina Reston, 21, and sisters Louisel and Eliana Ramos. All died in the past year.

Last year, super-skinny models were banned from Madrid Fashion Week. The ban covers girls with a body mass index of below 18 -- 18.5 to 25 is considered to be healthy according to United Nations standards.

In February, organizers of a top fashion show in Spain rejected five out of 69 fashion models as being too thin and decided to not allow women to walk if their BMI was below 18.

In Milan, considered by most to be the epicentre of Italian fashion, models must now carry medical certificates to prove they are healthy.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America has also issued voluntary guidelines to curb the use of overly thin models.

Last month, organizers of the Gold Coast Fashion week in Australia came under fire for allowing model Maddison Gabriel, who turned 13 in mid-September, to became the face of the festival.