BIOTECH COMPANY ADMITS DEVELOPING HIGH-NICOTINE TOBACCO

The U.S. government today brought the first criminal charges in its tobacco
industry investigation, alleging an Oakland-based biotechnology firm
conspired with a cigarette maker to secretly develop a high-nicotine
tobacco plant.

Justice Department officials said DNA Plant Technology Corp., which
develops new plant varieties, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of
conspiring to violate the tobacco seed export law and to cooperate in the
3-year-old probe. The officials said Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., the
nation's third largest cigarette maker, was an unindicted co-conspirator in
the alleged scheme to develop a genetically altered tobacco plant with a
higher nicotine content.

According to court papers, DNA Plant Technology conspired with Brown &
Williamson and its Brazilian affiliate to violate a law that bars tobacco
seed exports from the United States without a permit. The department
charged that one of Brown & Williamson's goals was to develop a reliable
source of high-nicotine tobacco it could use to control nicotine levels in
its cigarettes. The Department also said DNA Plan Technology deliberately
concealed from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) information about its
contract with Brown and Williamson to develop the tobacco.

The maximum penalty that DNA Plant faces is a $200,000 fine or twice the
gain it received under the contract. The charges were filed in federal
court in Washington, D.C.