XI'AN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the northwestern city of Xi'an have stopped incinerating confiscated fake cigarettes and is instead crushing them to produce medicine.

    "We used to incinerate the fake cigarettes, which is wasteful and causes air pollution," said Zhou Yaqing, vice director of the municipal tobacco monopoly bureau in Shaanxi Province.

    Zhou's bureau crushed 16.5 million yuan (2.06 million U.S. dollars) worth of confiscated cigarettes on Wednesday to extract Solanesol from the tobacco.

    Solanesol, which contains vitamine K2 and Coenzyme Q10, is used to treat cardiovascular disease. The price for one kilogram of Solanesol is about 200 dollars, and 30 tons of tobacco leaf can produce 100 kg to 120 kg of Solanesol. Enditem