Industrial Hemp

[Double A]

Here's a piece of legislation we should really support. Write you legislators in DC. It hurts no one, well, as far as I know, nobody too important and helps small businesses and farmers.

Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007 Introduced in Congress

Published: Feb 14, 2007 at 07:52


For the second time since the federal government outlawed hemp farming in the United States, a federal bill has been introduced that would remove restrictions on the cultivation of non-psychoactive industrial hemp. The chief sponsor of H.R. 1009, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007," is Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) and the nine original co-sponsors are Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Barney Frank (D-MA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Jim McDermott (D-WA), George Miller (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA) and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). The bill may be viewed online at:
http://www.votehemp.com/federal.html

"It is indefensible that the United States government prevents American farmers from growing this crop. The prohibition subsidizes farmers in countries from Canada to Romania by eliminating American competition and encourages jobs in industries such as food, auto parts and clothing that utilize industrial hemp to be located overseas instead of in the United States," said Dr. Paul. "By passing the Industrial Hemp Farming Act the House of Representatives can help American farmers and reduce the trade deficit -- all without spending a single taxpayer dollar."

U.S. companies that manufacture or sell products made with hemp include Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, a California company who manufactures the number-one-selling natural soap, and FlexForm Technologies, an Indiana company whose natural fiber materials are
used in over 2 million cars. Hemp food manufacturers such as French Meadow Bakery, Hempzels, Living Harvest, Nature's Path and Nutiva now make their products from Canadian hemp. Although hemp grows wild across the U.S., a vestige of centuries of hemp farming, the hemp for these products must be imported. Health Canada statistics show that 48,060 acres of industrial hemp were produced in Canada in 2006. Farmers in Canada have reported that hemp is one of the most profitable crops that they can grow. Hemp clothing is made around the world by well-known brands such as Patagonia, Bono's Edun and Giorgio Armani.

There is strong support among key national organizations for a change in the federal government's position on hemp. The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) "supports revisions to the federal rules and regulations authorizing commercial production of industrial hemp." The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has also passed a pro-hemp resolution.

Numerous individual states have expressed interest in industrial hemp as well. Fifteen states have passed pro-hemp legislation; seven (Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia) have removed barriers to its production or research. North Dakota has issued state licenses, the first in fifty years, to two farmers so far. Rep. Paul's bill would remove federal barriers and allow laws in these states regulating the growing and processing of industrial hemp to take effect.

"Under the current national drug control policy, industrial hemp can be imported, but it can't be grown by American farmers," says Eric Steenstra, president of Vote Hemp. "The DEA has taken the Controlled Substances Act's antiquated definition of marijuana out of context and used it as an excuse to ban industrial hemp farming. The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2007 will bring us back to more rational times when the government regulated marijuana, but told farmers they could go ahead and continue raising hemp just as they always had," says Mr. Steenstra.

[cannon_fodder]

I'm in like Flynn.  Hemp products are a viable cash crop that has, and will grow in less than pristine farmland.  It can be used from rope to canvas to clothing.

Another victim on the war on logic, I mean drugs.

[Chicken Little]

I'll bet it'll produce better ethanol than this switchgrass stuff.  (Just a guess.)

[Double A]

Hemp is being totally ignored as a bio-fuel source.

But Hemp has many uses:

Bio-deisel
Cloth
Plastics
Paints
Paper
Building Materials
Food

In the 1910s Henry Ford experimented with using agricultural materials in the manufacture of automobiles. Ford was partly motivated by a desire to find nonfood applications for agricultural surpluses, which existed then as they do now. He tried out many agricultural crops, including wheat.

Coil cases for the 1915 Model T Ford were made from a wheat gluten resin reinforced with asbestos fibbers. Eventually he focused on soybeans, and in the 1920s began promoting soybean products at every opportunity. He recruited Robert Boyer, a young chemist, to lead the research. In the following few years, uses were found for soy oil in automobile paints and enamels, in rubber substitutes, and in the production of glycerol for shock absorbers. Viscous solutions of soy protein were extruded and "set" in formaldehyde bath to form fibers for upholstery cloth. But Ford's special interest was in converting soy meal into plastics. Soy meal is what is left after soy-beans are crushed or ground into flakes and the soy oil extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent. Soy meal is about 50 percent protein and 50 percent carbohydrate- mainly cellulose. The compositions of Ford's soy plastics, and the methods of their processing, evolved over time and varied according to the application. In general the resin core was made of soy meal reacted with formaldehyde to produce cross-linked protein (reminiscent of casein plastics and animal horn), but for added strength and resistance to moisture, phenol or urea was cocondensed with the protein. The resulting resin was part phenol formaldehyde (or urea formaldehyde) and part cross-linked soy protein; the soy meal was not merely a filler.

The condensation took place in the presence of the cellulose and other carbohydrates that were part of the soy meal. Fillers, up to 50 to 60 percent, provided additional cellulose fibbers, from HEMP, wood flour or pulp from sprice or pine, cotton, flax, ramie even wheat. The final mix was about 70 percent cellulose and 10 to 20 percent soy meal. When additional strength became necessary, glass fiber was also used. Relatively low pressures and temperatures were used in the molding process. Soy meal plastics were used for a steadily increasing number of automobile parts- glove-box doors, gear-shift knobs, horn buttons, accelerator pedals, distributor heads, interior trim, steering wheels, dashboard panels, and eventually a prototype exterior rear-deck lid. Finally Ford gave the go-ahead to produce a completely prototype "plastic car," including an entire plastic body. The body consisted of fourteen plastic panels fixed to a welded tubular frame (instead of the customary parallel I-beam frame). The panels and frame each weighed about 250 pounds. The total weight of the automobile was 2,300 pounds, roughly two-thirds the weight of a steel model of comparable size.


Henry Ford tries out his first car
What was it made from?
Plant based materials- including hemp
"the axe bounced, and there was no dent..."

Ford, a master at generating publicity, exhibited the prototype with great fanfare in 1941. But then, by late 1941, Ford no longer publicized the "plastic car". The reasons for this are unknown, but his media contacts, the strength of the DuPont organization and World War II are likely to have played a role. Also, technology was not yet well developed and limited options. Plastics have become more common, but plastics from renewable resources got sidetracked. This is where Hemp Plastics have continued with research projects and collaborations to re-visit and re-new the use of plant based plastics.