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 yesterday in Beijing.