U.S. PROBES RJR <RJR> TAINTED TOBACCO SHIPMENTS
Federal law enforcement authorities
said they began a criminal investigation of R.J. Reynolds
Tobacco Co after the company imported herbicide-tainted tobacco
and then exported tainted cigarettes to Japan.
    "We can confirm that the U.S. Customs Service has launched a
criminal investigation of Reynolds," a Customs spokesman told
Reuters.
    "There is an investigation under way," said Bob Edmunds, the
U.S. attorney in Greensboro, N.C.
    Reynolds is a subsidiary of RJR Nabisco Inc. of
Winston-Salem, N.C.
    The investigation is particularly embarrassing--for Tokyo
and Washington, as well as the company--because the Japanese
government, under pressure from the United States, agreed only
last year to open its markets to U.S.-made tobacco products.
    R.J. Reynolds spokesman David Fishel said in a telephone
interview that his company acknowledged importing into the
United States large amounts of tobacco treated with a
weedkiller called Dicamba, and then exporting cigarettes made
with the tobacco to Japan. He acknowledged the weed killer was
present in the tobacco at levels exceeding U.S. standards but
said use of the tobacco did not pose a threat to human health.
    "Dicamba is approved by the government for use on a variety
of crops including food crops, and is widely used as a ripening
agent on tobacco," Fishel said.
    Earlier today, Japanese Finance Ministry official Etsuzo
Kawade said in Tokyo that government authorities were holding a
large shipment of Winston Lights manufactured by R.J. Reynolds
after tests showed some of them contained unacceptable amounts
of the weedkiller.
    "We do not believe the herbicide posed a serious threat to
people's health but the levels were unacceptable by law," Kawade
said.
 Reuter
