Smoking warnings to change

BEIJING - Next year will bring a doubling in the size of the words that appear on cigarette packages to warn consumers of the dangers of smoking.

Starting in April 2012, cigarettes produced and sold in China will bear a new warning label containing letters that will be no less than 4 millimeters in height. That will be twice the size of the current minimum, which stipulates that the letters be at least 2 mm from bottom to top, according to a notice written by the China National Tobacco Corp and published on the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration's website.

Despite the intentions, many tobacco-control experts said the step is "minor" and that it fails to deal with the chief issue.