problem with read.table

Dear all,
   Please, when I use the command:
   table1<-read.table("table1.txt", header=TRUE, sep="\t")
   cells that contain \ u 2264 (corresponding to <= sign) get imported as \ \
   u2264.
   which causes the need to manually edit each cell using the fix command.
   Is there a way to fix that?
   thanks, Victor