Protest over green award for tobacco producer

A government-backed charity has come under fire for giving the world's largest tobacco producer an award for its 'significant contribution to ecological protection'.

China Green Foundation, supervised by the State Forestry Administration, gave the award to China National Tobacco Corp on World Environmental Protection Day last month, prompting tobacco control activists to write a protest letter.

The letter, from the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control, was sent to the foundation and posted on the association's website on Wednesday, the day that Health Minister Dr Chen Zhu received a World Health Organisation special recognition certificate for his commitment to tobacco control.

It urged the foundation to cancel the award issued to the company and not to shortlist tobacco production companies as candidates for future awards.

'Issuing the award to China National Tobacco Corp ignores the facts that the tobacco industry damages human health and the environment and is against the spirit of the WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,' it said.

Tobacco is mostly planted in dry areas and requires more than five times as much phosphate fertiliser as coffee and more than seven times as much as corn. The association says such heavy use of fertiliser has damaged fertile land and the natural ecosystem.