Justice Department files charges against bio-tech company

Prosecutors in the United States have brought their first criminal charges as part of a long-running investigation into the tobacco industry.

A Californian bio-technology company, faced with the charges, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

The firm DNA Plant Technology Corporation violated export regulations on tobacco seed as part of a scheme to use Brazil as a base for growing high-nicotine tobacco strains.

The official inquiry into the American tobacco industry has been going on for three years in an effort to pin down allegations of fraud and malpractice.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service