Russia's press moguls are up in arms over a new government decree which would require them to prove that their publications are not bad for people's health.

If a newspaper's print is too small, its columns too narrow or its ink too thin, Russia's Health Ministry wants to know.

Officials say they are worried that some rogue publishers may be damaging their readers' eyesight and staining their hands.

Critics say the move is a crude attempt to curb press freedoms in Russia.

A team of doctors and specialists has drawn up a detailed list of requirements to which all publications may soon be obliged to conform. Even the thickness of the paper will be measured.

In the Soviet days it was what you wrote, now it seems it is how you write it that matters to the government.

Russian editors and publishers have written an open letter angrily condemning the decree as a new form of censorship.

At best they fear it will simply be used by corrupt bureaucrats to get more bribes, at worst it could be used to close down undesirable papers.

The move has come at a bad time for an industry already hit hard by Russia's economic crisis.