Tobacco researcher dubbed 'a killer'
By Wang Qingchu |
December 13, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A NEWLY elected academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering who studies how to reduce toxicity in cigarettes has been accused of making false claims, misleading the public and even promoting smoking.
Xie Jianping was dubbed the "killer academician" after his inclusion on a list of new members attracted a rash of complaints on online forums, Beijing Times reported yesterday.
The 52-year-old deputy director of the Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute studies how to reduce tar and nicotine in cigarettes and uses Chinese herbs to lower toxicity.
Xie has won second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award three times. He has also been accredited as an expert making "outstanding contributions" to the tobacco industry and enjoys subsidies from the State Council.
"The election of Xie is a shame to China's scientific community and the CAE," Yang Gonghuan, director of the National Tobacco Control Office, said on her microblog.
"The harm of smoking can't be reduced by opting for low-tar cigarettes," Yang said.
Low-tar is a term developed by the tobacco industry as a strategy to lure more smokers, according to an internal British American Tobacco document in 1977, Yang said.
Smokers of low-tar cigarettes actually inhale more toxicants more deeply and take puffs more often, leading to an equal chance of getting diseases compared to other cigarettes, Yang added.
Fang Zhouzi, a famed activist against science fraud, cited the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which stipulates that terms including low-tar create the false impression that a particular tobacco product is less harmful than others, the newspaper said.
Xie's studies could mislead the public into believing smoking could be safe and help tobacco producers to sell more, Yang said. She questioned the impartiality of his studies as they were funded by tobacco companies, the report said.
"A man who studies how to kill people more efficiently can be an academician? Every year thousands of Chinese die of smoking-related diseases, but the government is funding the studies?" the report quoted an online poster as saying.
Xie Jianping was dubbed the "killer academician" after his inclusion on a list of new members attracted a rash of complaints on online forums, Beijing Times reported yesterday.
The 52-year-old deputy director of the Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute studies how to reduce tar and nicotine in cigarettes and uses Chinese herbs to lower toxicity.
Xie has won second prize in the National Science and Technology Progress Award three times. He has also been accredited as an expert making "outstanding contributions" to the tobacco industry and enjoys subsidies from the State Council.
"The election of Xie is a shame to China's scientific community and the CAE," Yang Gonghuan, director of the National Tobacco Control Office, said on her microblog.
"The harm of smoking can't be reduced by opting for low-tar cigarettes," Yang said.
Low-tar is a term developed by the tobacco industry as a strategy to lure more smokers, according to an internal British American Tobacco document in 1977, Yang said.
Smokers of low-tar cigarettes actually inhale more toxicants more deeply and take puffs more often, leading to an equal chance of getting diseases compared to other cigarettes, Yang added.
Fang Zhouzi, a famed activist against science fraud, cited the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which stipulates that terms including low-tar create the false impression that a particular tobacco product is less harmful than others, the newspaper said.
Xie's studies could mislead the public into believing smoking could be safe and help tobacco producers to sell more, Yang said. She questioned the impartiality of his studies as they were funded by tobacco companies, the report said.
"A man who studies how to kill people more efficiently can be an academician? Every year thousands of Chinese die of smoking-related diseases, but the government is funding the studies?" the report quoted an online poster as saying.
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