U.S. Probes Tainted Tobacco
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From Reuters
WASHINGTON — The government has begun a criminal investigation of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. after the company imported herbicide-tainted tobacco and then exported tainted cigarettes to Japan, federal authorities said today.
The U.S. 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.
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