Rjr Chairman Gives Flip Answer

With a quip that lacked the typical polish of a tobacco executive, RJR Chairman Charles Harper dived head first Wednesday into the secondhand-smoke fight.

He was responding to a smoking opponent, who was commenting on a shareholder proposal voted down at the annual investors meeting. Anne Morrow Donley, a member of GASP the Group to Alleviate Smoking in Public - asked Harper if he would want his children or grandchildren exposed to smoke.

“I will not restrict the right of anyone to smoke,” said Harper, who has four children and 11 grandchildren. “If the children don’t like to be in a smoky room … they’ll leave.”

“An infant cannot leave the room,” Donley said.

“At some point, they begin to crawl,” Harper said.