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)
“I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph.”
—Shirley Temple Black (b. 1928)
“The unreal is natural, so natural that it makes of unreality the most natural of anything natural. That is what America does, and that is what America is.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“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)
““Come, boys, I know there’s kindly hearts among so good a
crowd—
To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.”
—Hugh Antoine D’Arcy (1843–1925)