CRAZY TOBACCO

Growers call it crazy tobacco, but that makes it sound almost like a joke.
What's happening on some farms in Brazil isn't the least bit funny, and it
may be hazardous to your health.

Some farmers there are raising a tobacco plant genetically altered by one
of the world's largest tobacco companies, Brown & Williamson, so that it
packs twice as much nicotine as other commercially grown tobacco plants.

Naturally, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has been trying to
regulate nicotine because of its addictive power, is keenly interested.
Federal officials believe the exceptionally fastgrowing plant gives
cigarette makers a new tool for tinkering with nicotine levels in their
products.

Some varieties of the new plant are reportedly so high in nicotine that
merely smelling the leaves makes the eyes water and itch and the throat
constrict. This from an industry whose products have already caused untold
suffering.