The Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company is a tobacco manufacturer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, best known for its production of the Natural American Spirit cigarette brand. The company was purchased by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 2001 and is currently a division of Reynolds American.
A controversy emerged surrounding this brand for its claims to be natural, purportedly often misconstrued as meaning that the product is healthier for a smoker. In Civil Action No. 99-2496 (GK) (March 16, 2007), Reynolds American was criticized by the United States Department of Justice for making deceptive statements about "natural" tobacco products:
All these activities, despite being carried out beyond our shores, were part of the Defendants’ scheme to defraud the American public about the adverse health effects of smoking and environmental tobacco smoke. The activities which took place abroad were all devoted to advancing and furthering the efforts of the Defendants to mislead and deceive American smokers and potential smokers about the lower health risks of “low tar,” “lite,” “ultra lite,” “mild” and “natural” cigarettes, as well as the dangers of smoking, nicotine addiction, and environmental tobacco smoke.Famous quotes containing the words santa fe, santa, natural, tobacco and/or company:
“On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”
—Johnny Mercer (1909–1976)
“On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.”
—Johnny Mercer (1909–1976)
“Suffering is by no means a privilege, a sign of nobility, a reminder of God. Suffering is a fierce, bestial thing, commonplace, uncalled for, natural as air. It is intangible; no one can grasp it or fight against it; it dwells in time—is the same thing as time; if it comes in fits and starts, that is only so as to leave the sufferer more defenseless during the moments that follow, those long moments when one relives the last bout of torture and waits for the next.”
—Cesare Pavese (1908–1950)
“You and I both know that Twinkies don’t kill people.... The difference between cigarettes and Twinkies ... is death. The tobacco industry should know: When it comes to Twinkies, I’d rather fight than quit.”
—Henry Waxman (b. 1939)
“The old idea that the joke was not good enough for the company has been superseded by the new aristocratic idea that the company was not worthy of the joke. They have introduced an almost insane individualism into that one form of intercourse which is specially and uproariously communal. They have made even levities into secrets. They have made laughter lonelier than tears.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)