BIOTECH FIRM GREW HIGH-NICOTINE TOBACCO

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A California biotechnology company pleaded guilty Friday
in federal court to growing high-nicotine tobacco secretly in foreign
countries for a U.S. tobacco company.

DNA Plant Technology Corp. of Oakland pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor
count of conspiracy, giving the Justice Department its first conviction in
its investigation of the tobacco industry.

No sentencing date was set.

Arthur Finnel, the company's vice president and chief executive officer,
and his lawyers declined to comment further after Friday's court hearing,
saying the government had asked them to remain silent while the
investigation continues.

``Under the terms of the plea agreement between DNA Plant Technology and
the government, DNA Plant Technology Corp. has agreed to cooperate with the
government in its ongoing investigation of the tobacco industry,'' said a
written statement released by defense attorney Raymond C. Marshall.

In court papers filed Jan. 7, federal prosecutors cited the unnamed tobacco
company as an unindicted co-conspirator and refused to name it. But
individuals familiar with the investigation said it was Brown & Williamson
Tobacco Corp., the third-largest U.S. cigarette company and manufacturer of
the Kool, Viceroy and Raleigh brands.

The biotechnology firm, also known as DNAP, agreed to plead guilty after
negotiations with prosecutors, who have recommended that U.S. District
Judge Norma Holloway Johnson impose a $100,000 fine as punishment.

Johnson, however, still is free to impose the maximum penalty of either
$200,000 or twice the amount of money DNAP gained while under contract for
the tobacco company.

Late last year, 18 Brazilian farmers openly acknowledged to The Associated
Press that they are growing high-nicotine leaf by the ton, and many said
they have been growing it for more than five years. The AP reported that
the high-nicotine tobacco -- called crazy tobacco or fumo louco by the
growers -- was the offspring of a genetically altered plant created in U.S.
laboratories for Brown & Williamson.

DNAP was accused of violating a federal law that banned the export of
tobacco seeds without a permit. That law was repealed in 1991.

From 1983 to 1994, the tobacco company and DNAP operated a scheme to
secretly have said.

Commercial growing of such tobacco is banned in this country by federal
regulations.

DNAP smuggled shipments of seeds to farms in foreign countries -- including
Brazil, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile, Nigeria, Costa Rica, Argentina and
Canada -- to find the best place to grow the tobacco, Assistant U.S.
Attorney Randall Eliason said.

The tobacco company's goal was to develop a reliable source of
high-nicotine tobacco that it could use to control and manipulate the
nicotine levels of its cigarettes, the government said. Higher levels of
nicotine are thought to help hook smokers on cigarettes.