WARS UPRISINGS SPUR THE BOTANICALS TRADE - TO ADOPT 007 TACTICS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500230002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 2, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

STAT
0
Approved For Release 2004/02/1 j
DEC
T47ars, Uprisings Spur
The Botanicals Trade.
To Adoht 6107 -Tactics
lnporters of .I!ix(Tl l`C rer i ume,
By Strife, Anti-U.S. Feeling)
1` --r
+
75-0
2 1965
items it gets from Russia for fear of"alerting
longshoremen, who often refuse to unload Red
goods. S. B. Penick & Co. concedes it didn't
,et. anything from the Dominican Republic ,
daring the recent. upheaval there -but also
wrii't say what it as trying to import. "We:
-,,-elk like the dickens to develop a new source
ci'rrupply," an officer explains, adding that it'
hTr. talks about it "two months later we find)
uthier guys in there." {
At the moment, Vietnam and Indonesia are
ip,?nviding most of the, problems for the im-
porters. The war In Vietnam has ruined that
nuntry as a source of nux vomica and Saigon
cinnamon, considered the best grade of that
'spice. Nux vomica, a button-sized grey nut j
By WILLIAM D. HARTI.El whoso, name means "vomit nut," is a source
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL of strychnine and brucine (used to denature'
NEW YORK-Who says war is good for the
economy? tcohol) and is used in veterinary drugs for in-
Not E11}s Mawr. The Vietcong have come digestion and as a tonic to stimulate appetites.
---~--- In Indonesia, rebellion and bad feeling to-
between this importer and his nux' vomic.a. ward the U.S.-and poor management-have
What's more, unrest in Indonesia has upset the combined to cut off shipment of many prod-
warket' in cinchona hark and patchouli, Anti-Js.
America.n feeling in Cambodia hag pIcyot({ l e5 and eshar 11t:riQuiciily dwindling sup.
havoc with the hum benzoin trade' And an p y g prices, Quinine aul.
importer of Eucalyptus oil from the Congo nophate, d which is extracted fram ci>chona bark
and used in medicine and tonic water, now
has had to find a now source because "the rn-ts R,, 50 to $3 f ? 35 t
o
ce
fellow we worked with, the main producer,
was massacred."
Such woes, however, are hardly new to the
hardy band of importers of these and other
goods known as botalilcaia, a grin the in(ltis-
try leosely dei'Ines as "anything that grows
-11-1 -1 c
u
' ----,y,
c i`"
n
a
ms'
available from one land only, are used mainly !i
in spices, pe.rfuirte. , and drugs. About $300 mil- through other countries." That is, it is being
lion worth of them are imported annually, smuggled through Singapore and Hong Kong,
Cambodia., where anti-American feeling:
Dealing with war, rebellion, civil strife and p i nui high, has halted shipments to the U,S,;
anti-U.S, attitude is all in a day's work for the
"You have to be a student of "( gum benzoin, forcing importers to get the
tanical
eo
le
b
b
t
lon
o
e
l
i
,
p
p
o
foreign affairs In this business," says Mr.
Meer. "Most of my spare time is spent meet-
ing diplomats, trying to find out what's going
on in their country," But, conceding that re-
bellions and wars usually catch the trs.d1171-
aware, another in~pot ter : ~.,lcs : 'X-.-the CIA
and the jstate Department runt anticipate
"r-rebellion: how'c in we do It""
A'J'a k fiiy. 11f17 s a,
Secrecy and intrigue are also hallnmarks of
the industry. Some of the deals swung in,
foreign lands would tax the ingenuity of
James Bond. Most importers work through
brokers who deal through agents abroad who
work through heaven-knows-whom. "We know
the people we deal with are reliable," says
one importer, "How they get the product and
ware 11113y gec is to uwn- yruuxein, - !in pesticides, from the Congo, Kenya and Tai -'`
Even after a purchase is completed' i.t's zania and set up its own farm in- Ecuador.
often kept secret. One concern won't talk about
Approved For Release 2004/02/10 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000500230002-3
an
un
, up tom con a
a. couple of years ago. Patchouti, a perfume
ba.,e, now is about $15 a pound and
one importer figures it will hit $25 soon; a,
few months' a.go the price was $4.
yiuuggfug Ohiehnna lark
perfume material through others. The price
now is $12 a, pound; it was $2.
if war doesn't threaten a drop, weather
of ten does. Bernard P. Champon, president of
L. A. Champon & Co., -a broker, recalls a cy.
clone that tore into Reunion Island, ripping
up geranium flowers (for perfume), then cut
into Madagascar and destroyed much of the
vanilla bean crop and finally cut across the
Comoro Islands where it destroyed hundreds
of ylang slang flowers (also used in perfume).
Continuing troubles often goad : importers
and thrir customers to find more secure sup-
plies. Fluctuating prices and quality of li-t?
dian lemon grass, from which citral for vita-
min A is made, prompted 13offmann-La Roche,
Inc., to synthesize citral. Penick grew tired
STAT
Drug Material Kept Guessing