Tobacco Documents Online

eI THE NEW YORK TIMES 32 April 13, 1967 R. J. Reynolds By ALEk\ANDEft R. HA.1LtilEEt SpeElal to TheNew York Tlmes JERSEY CITY, April 12 - Bowman Gray, chairman of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Com- pany, charged today that al ndatory requlrement to listl '.'cigarette tar and nicotine con- I tent" would mislead the publi'c. '' The tobacco executive de- clared it would be °misleading" because of a continuing lack of valid scientific evidence demon- 8trating that either so-called~ tar or nicotine was responsible for human illnesses. Speaking to more than 600 I stockholders at the company's ' annual meeting in the Plaza ~otel here, Mr. Gray noted that gisiation to require the listing of tar and nicotine content on all cigarette packages was ex- pected to be introduced• shortly in Congress. Research Criticixed He said piroposals also had been made to require' all ciga- rette advertising to carry the, "tar" and nicotinc listing asi well as the present requircdi caution notice. Since 1966, eachI package or carton of cigarettesi bears this printed notice: "Cau-` In replying during the meet- (ing to charges made in the leaf- tlon. Cigarette smoking may be~let, Mr. Gray told stockholders 2iazardous to your health:.' Mr. Gray charged that much of the research undertaken by government and private health that Reynolds bought less than 1 per cent of lts tobacco from Yugoslavia. He said the imported tobacco agencies wao now being donel'was used for flavoring and was to support a "preconceived con-Ialso purchased by other Amer- elusion" that cigarette smoking,lcan cigarette companies. Mr. vvas harmful: jGray pointed out that the im- "As a result," he said, "cre-I portation of tobacco from Yugo- ~~ iven to research based nce d b de g ~lavia had been encourage y i t i n on this premise could resul he last three administrat'ions a diversion of needed funds and seientific talents from the vital goal of Isolating the true causc~; of cancer and other diseases." Mr. Gray said the industry br since 1948 when that coun- !try was given a preferent~al trade status by this country." i• The Reynolds executive said, "We have been in touch with various departments in, the Ad- ministration and they have urged us to continue these pur- chases." Letter From McNamara Turning to the leaflet's com- ~nent on Vietnam, Mr. Gray said that he recently received a let- ter from Defense Secretary at a faster rate than the to- bacco industry," he added. ' Mr. Gray said the acquisitionl of two well-established food or- anizations, Chun King Corpo- ation and Filler Products, Inc., has "further strengthened.the Fompany's growing position in the packaged food products business." Reynolds's latest acquisition was in February when it ac- quired Fllmco, Inc., which sup- plies packaging films to food stores. Mr. Gray said this was a rapidly growing business. He said all domestic subsid- iaries of R J. Reynolds were running ahead of last year in sales and profits with the ex- ception of Penick & Ford, Ltd., which was suffering from "in- tense price competition In the corn syrup business:" ' - ~Zobert S. McNamara which' said that "Yugoslavia has not.~ supplied any military support or arms or has any trade relation- ship with North Vietnam." , Mr. Gray said the Defense "Secretary's letter went on to say that "peaceful trade be- tween the United States and ~'ugoslavia contributes mate- rially to our national policy of supporting Yugoslavia's inde- j pendent position." Mr. Gray said indications were that Reynolds's profit and sales in the first quarter led the year-earlier pace. In the quarter ended March 31, 1966, Reynolds earned ;30;399,000, or, 76 cents a share, onn sales of i ;424,258,000. Nontobacco Sales Grow organization. He said it took I The chairman said sales of' Its name from a young German; the company's nontobacco prod- Peter Pechter, who was killed In ucts represented about 11 per j 1962 by East German guards cent of total volume. "It is while attempting to cross the' likely in the short run that our Berlin Wall to the West. Inontobacco business wilI grow could expect further antismok- Ing government campaigns. In this connection, he added, "bet- ter communications between the Industry and government are needed to assure that such pro- grams delineate between fact and theory." The seventy:~ninute meeting of the nation's largest tobacco producer was calm, but there, was excitement outside the ho-. Itel beforeit started at 2 P.3T. Six members of the Peterl Pechter Brigade greeted the Reynolds shareholders upon ar- rival by handing them leaflets that protested the company's use of tobacco imported from Yugoslavia. : Vietnam Toll Cited Each leaflet said that Rey- nolds's Camell Tempo, Winston and Salem cigarettes contained "Communist tobacco." It said 6,047 Americans had been killed iri Vietnam and that "you, as a Reynolds stockholder, helped kill them tf you voted for pres- ent management." . A member of the Peter Pech- ter Brigade described his group as an American anti-Communist