The Ministry of Health proposed a set of obligatory norms concerning the publication of children’s books. Under a bill that is to be approved by the Government, the letters in books for children of preschool age will be not smaller than 5 millimeters, while for children of school age – of minimum 3.5-2 millimeters, IPN reports.
Currently, there are no regulations specifying common standards on the publication of children’s books. According to experts, such norms are necessary as the eye diseases are among the top diseases in the structure of the children’s general morbidity.
Under the regulations, the area occupied by pictures in books for children of preschool age must represent at least 75%.
The Ministry also suggests that the national and imported graphical materials used to make editions for children must contain sanitary certificates issued by the State Public Heath Supervision Service. If there is no information about the origin of the graphical materials, a sanitary examination will have to be performed to determine the content of formaldehyde and heavy metal salts.
After the regulations are approved, they will become mandatory for all the publishing houses.
