February 15, 2010 – Recently, President Barack Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address. In his speech, he emphasized clean energy and economic growth as our nation’s primary goals for this year. In light of his Obama’s speech, it seems high time to renew the debate about allowing the cultivation of hemp for industrial applications. There are literally tens of thousands of uses for industrial hemp, and allowing for its legalization could not only create jobs, but pave the way for a greener and cleaner tomorrow.

The most prevalent issue regarding industrial hemp is the concern that hemp crops could be diverted to the black market for drugs. This seems like a rational concern for someone who doesn’t know much about hemp, which most people do not. After all, hemp is still cannabis is it not? Well, yes, and no.

The cultivation methods for both hemp and cannabis vary significantly. Drug grade cannabis comes from the flowers of female cannabis plants, and female cannabis plants alone. In order to produce the potent, and thus economical cannabis that most users are used to, the cultivator must not allow any male plants to pollinate their female crop. If pollination occurs, the potency of the female buds will be drastically reduced, the flowers will bear seeds (seedy cannabis is extremely undesirable), and the risk and of expense on the cultivator’s end will have been in vane, as the will have produced a product that no cannabis user would be willing to purchase.

Hemp on the other hand is grown with both males and females together, not because it’s an equal opportunity thing, but because hemp is not grown to produce the psychoactive substance THC. Instead, hemp is grown as a fiber source, much like cotton, although unlike cotton, the parts of the hemp plant that is not used for fiber can be used for many other purposes.

However, don’t hemp plants still produce THC even if they are not grown to produce it? Yes, they do, but not very much, in fact it isn’t much at all. Drug variety cannabis produces somewhere between 1 percent THC by dry weight on the low quality end of the spectrum, to up to 20 percent, or even up to 30 percent THC by dry weight for the highest quality cannabis. Hemp on the other hand produces much less THC, typically not more than 0.15 percent THC by dry weight, that is nearly six and a half times less potent than the lowest quality drug variety cannabis, and one hundred to two hundred times less potent than high quality drug grade cannabis. That means that if one joint of very low quality cannabis were necessary to produce a desirable effect, it would require six joints of hemp flowers to produce the same effect.

Most probably overlook another important aspect of industrial hemp production; the amount of THC that the crops produce can be regulated, and many countries that allow for its production regulate potency. In Europe, potency is typically 0.3 percent or less, however as mention earlier, many hemp varieties produce much less. It seems unlikely that cannabis users would be interested in cannabis with such low potency, especially when one considers the many ultra-potent drug grade strains available today.

The question remains, why grow hemp? To start, hemp is a fantastic fiber source that can be grown in nearly all but the most extreme climates. Hemp can be used to produce paper, and cloth, and at one point it was one of the United States most important export, as it was extremely important to maritime travel. Hemp canvas and rope were both commonly used on sailing vessels.

For paper production, one acre of hemp is equivalent to over four acres of trees. That’s hardly small potatoes considering the great concerns over deforestation. What’s more is that hemp can be grown in one season, were trees take at least ten years to become viable. Additionally, hemp paper is naturally white, and thus does not need to be bleached like tree paper, and thus switching to hemp paper would be more ecologically sound in many ways.

Hemp can be used for many other applications as well. For instance, the plant cellulose from hemp can be used to produce plastics, as opposed to the highly toxin and very difficult to break down petroleum based plastics that are currently used. Also, hempseed oil can be used to produce biofuels, as opposed to using corn. Corn would be a fine biofuel source in a perfect world, however in our world, it is utter moral poverty to use a food source to power our cars when so many die each day from starvation.

If the cultivation of industrial hemp were legalized, the United States could produce it for biodiesel and other fuels, and subsidize corn production to export to countries which have high starvation related mortality rates. Perhaps with a policy like this, the United States could instigate a worldwide paradigm shift, and influence the citizens of other nations, particularly the downtrodden, to view our nation in a more positive light. That seems like it would be the most effective and peaceful method to prevent acts of terrorism. Source.

MORE INFORMATION ON HEMP:

Hemp and the Economy:

Could Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Feed our Starving Economy?

Solution Found for Failing Economy: Cannabis

Can Hemp Save the Economy?

The Case for Hemp-America has Handed this Profitable Market to Other Nations

Time to put Hemp to Use

Hemp and the Environment:

The Versatility of the Incredible Hemp Plant and How It Can Help Create a More Sustainable Future

Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for Oil

Hemp – A Green Solution for Improving the Health of People and the Environment

Help Save the Earth, Time to Subsitute Hemp for Oil

Hemp and Hunger:

Can Hemp Products Save the World?

Can Cannabis Hemp Help Solve Poverty, Conflict & Disease in Africa?

Hemp Facts:

Hemp Facts

The Case for Hemp in America

November 16, 2009 – Slinky, soft bamboo fabric has made its way into my wardrobe in the form of a number of buttery shirts and dresses. When I came across the eco-label Viridis Luxe, it wasn’t Uma Thurman and Laura Dern’s patronage of the brand that attracted me. It was the clothes’ luxurious feel and comfortable styling.

Indeed, bamboo has had the most success among all the new “eco-textiles” on store shelves—fabric billed as environmentally friendly and made from materials such as soybeans, corn, milk, seaweed and recycled plastic. Bamboo shows up in clothes sold in Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue, as well as sheets sold at Target, and it bears such deluxe labels as Ermenegildo Zegna, Rag & Bone and Ralph Lauren, as well as more eco-focused brands. Because it is so exotically soft, bamboo is often marketed alongside luxury fibers like silk and cashmere.

Bamboo’s story sounds clear and appealing: like hemp, the plant grows quickly without the irrigation, pesticides or fertilizer often used to grow cotton. It’s often sold as “biodegradable,” and the plant’s antimicrobial properties have been used to market athletic clothes made from the fiber. “People are switching from cotton to bamboo,” says Aarti Doshi, regional manager for bamboo-fabric distributor Doshi Group, based in Mumbai, India.

When I looked below the surface, though, I found that bamboo fabric is less “eco” and “sustainable” than it seems. The bamboo used in textiles has to be heavily manipulated to go from stem to store. To create fabric, it’s chopped up and dissolved in toxic solvents—the same process that recycles wood scraps into viscose or rayon. Indeed, bamboo fabric technically is rayon.

The Federal Trade Commission sued four small bamboo-clothing manufacturers in August, citing them for false labeling, among other concerns, under the 1958 Textile Fiber Products Identification Act. The companies had used language such as “natural,” “biodegradable,” and “antimicrobial.” But bamboo fabric isn’t natural, the FTC said, since it’s a textile developed by chemists. The agency also said the biodegradable and antimicrobial qualities of the plant don’t survive the manufacturing process.

In a bulletin titled “Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?” the FTC said that bamboo fabrics “are made using toxic chemicals in a process that releases pollutants into the air.”

The FTC’s four cases are close to being settled without penalties, but with the requirement that fabric be labeled as viscose or rayon, and without the claims about biodegradability and antimicrobial properties, says FTC staff attorney Korin Ewing.

Of course, rayon doesn’t have the same all-natural ring as bamboo. Salvatore Giardina, a designer and adjunct professor in textile development and marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, says he works with hemp and linen but stopped using bamboo several years ago after a manufacturer told him it should be labeled as viscose. “I manufacture a very high-end product—there’s no way I can put on my label 100% viscose,” he says.

Bonnie Siefers, founder and designer of Jonäno, one of the apparel makers sued by the FTC, says she has stopped marketing her bamboo line as biodegradable or antimicrobial. She is also working with newer fabrics made from corn sugars—which technically make something like polyester, but without the petroleum base.

But a quick search on the Web shows hundreds of apparel makers still market bamboo fabrics as eco-friendly. Ms. Ewing notes they probably have good intentions. “We have to be sure that sellers do their homework,” she says. Most bamboo is grown in China, where it’s harder for U.S designers to monitor suppliers.

Of course, bamboo doesn’t have to be processed heavily—witness the many home items, from furniture to flooring, on the market—to be used in products.

But some wearers have other gripes about bamboo. Mr. Giardina, the FIT professor, says he found that bamboo fabric is unstable and likely to stretch out of shape in damp weather. Uniform Knitters Ltd., a Hong Kong apparel manufacturer, abandoned bamboo fabrics because they tend to shrink and have odd variances in color, according to a company spokeswoman.

My bamboo clothes also proved somewhat unstable. After a few washes, tiny holes began to appear randomly in my new bamboo wardrobe. Hala Bahmet, the designer of Viridis Luxe, says the holes were the fault of too-thin yarn.

“Brands—us included—cranked out these delectable, lightweight, creamy garments that don’t have the durability,” she says. She now adds organic cotton to her clothes to improve durability, and she labels them “viscose from bamboo.” She has had better success mixing hemp and cashmere in her sweaters, which are gorgeous.

Ms. Bahmet says she hopes the FTC concerns lead to research on better bamboo production, because it doesn’t involve diverting an important food source such as corn to fabric production. She is optimistic that the FTC action will encourage scientists to research truly eco-friendly production methods for bamboo.

“Bamboo is just in its infancy as a fiber,” she says. “It’s not even a teenager yet.” Source.