An anti-tobacco group has called on governments to butt out of the business of buying cigarettes with public money.

But it's a habit some governments in China might have a hard time breaking as recent figures show public funds have paid for about 70 percent of brand-name cigarette purchases over the past few years.

"It is a shame governments have become the biggest purchasers of brand-name cigarettes. It seriously damages their image," Xu Guihua, deputy director of Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, told a press conference on Tuesday in Beijing.

The figures, from Beijing-based NGO Thinktank Research Center for Health Development, show public funds continuing to pay for cigarettes despite surging prices since 2000.

Xu said the government should tie its anti-smoking efforts with its anti-corruption campaign, as cigarette vouchers had become hot items and were sometimes ideal for paying bribes.

When a government official in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, was arrested last year on a charge of taking bribes, the evidence against him was not bundles of cash, but 200,000 yuan worth of redeemable cigarette vouchers.

A survey by the NGO on Sohu website from May 11-15, showed 98.7 percent of 3,630 netizens were against officials buying cigarettes with taxpayer money. Around 93 percent of netizens support the government banning officials from accepting cigarette vouchers, which could lead to corruption, the survey said.

Yet some local governments see things differently.

Gongan county in Hubei Province asked all of its administrative organizations to make it their "duty" to collectively consume about 23,000 cartons of cigarettes a year, reported Chutian Metropolis Daily.

Any organization that failed to consume at least 400 cartons of cigarettes a year would lose public funds, said the report.

At an average cost of 170 yuan a carton, that "duty" would cost the county 4 million yuan a year.

"Governments have also implemented favorable policies for the cigarette industry, raising revenue from taxes and creating local economic development," Wu Yiqun, deputy director of the think tank, said. "Some officials even see the tobacco industry as a way to promote economic growth, so the anti-cigarette campaign might face unexpected challenges," she said.

(China Daily May 20, 2009)