Tobacco firms covertly engineered and illegally imported high-nicotine tobacco

Evidence

It is illegal to manipulate nicotine levels, but permissible levels are sufficient to maintain smokers’ addiction. A biotech company was indicted for conspiring with Brown & Williamson to genetically engineer a tobacco seed that doubles the nicotine content (Proctor, 2012). Leaked documents disclosed that the tobacco seeds were exported to Brazil under the deceptive label “special material” bound for “winter trials abroad” (Hall, 1998). Large amounts of nicotine-enriched tobacco were then imported illegally and used in several brands of cigarettes (Meier, 1998d). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1693

Categorization

• XREF: The euphemistic cargo label ‘special material’ echoes other corporate euphemisms (e.g. ‘revenue management’) and connects to the reader’s interest in how language launders responsibility.