Govt urged to get tough on smoking

The health warnings on cigarettes packages in China have failed to raise public awareness of the dangers of smoking, a report by the World Health Organization has found.

The report, released by the WHO and the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project on Tuesday, shows that the text-only health warnings on tobacco packages are ineffective, and using large, pictorial health warnings would significantly increase public awareness of the dangers associated with smoking.

China has the world's largest number of smokers, as 28 percent of the country's 1 billion adults are smokers. Meanwhile, more than 3,000 Chinese die every day - or more than 1 million each year - from smoking-related illnesses.