A top US tobacco company is selling cigarettes containing genetically altered, high-nicotine tobacco to Hong Kong, one of its senior officials has claimed.
Cigarettes sold in Hong Kong, Asia and the Middle East contained about twice as much high-nicotine tobacco as those made for sale in the United States, said Roger Black of Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation.
Mr Black, director of leaf blending, made the claim in a deposition for a class-action lawsuit against major tobacco companies in New York. According to his testimony, the genetically altered tobacco is used in some Viceroy brands.
But British-American Tobacco in Hong Kong, whose parent company controls Brown and Williamson, has 'categorically denied' using genetically altered tobacco in its products.
Its consumer and regulatory affairs manager, Laura Knight, said: 'All Viceroy products sold in Hong Kong are blended and manufactured in Hong Kong under the licence of the US owner of the brand. We do not import Viceroy or Viceroy Lights for sale in the Hong Kong market.' Brown and Williamson said yesterday the genetically altered tobacco did not mean people were smoking cigarettes with higher nicotine levels.
It blended the high-nicotine leaves with weaker tobaccos to produce a variety of brands.
