Robster FCD
Critical Thinker
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2008
- Messages
- 379
I'm only going to look at the first part of bwinwright's post, so that we can separate the true from false.
I took an interest in hemp as a possible fiber source for the production of cellulosic ethanol. I pitched the idea to the energy secretary for my state and he asked if hemp produced more tons of cellulose per acre than switchgrass. If it did, I should proceed with grant writing. It turns out that the two are equivalent, with switchgrass putting out a little more cellulose than hemp.
Because of this, there was no need to pursue the idea. Alas.
Hemp makes excellent rope and canvas, but requires lots and lots of processing to make a soft fabric. You could use cellulase, an enzyme that breaks down cellulose, to make the process a bit easier. As for softness and warmth, I have felt some extremely soft cottons, but for warmth, I'm going for synthetic fleece.
This isn't quite right, but it does get repeated by people who don't have a background in agriculture. I grew up on a farm that decades before had been used to produce hemp for the war effort (WW2). Hemp doesn't need much in the way of pesticides, certainly not as much as some food crops, or cotton, mainly because the plants produce many chemicals that most pests don't like. Nature didn't "do the programming" to protect hemp, evolution produced a plant that many pests cannot eat, which is in itself, not uncommon.
That said, there are many insects that co-evolved to be able to metabolize these chemicals, including hemp fleas, hemp moths, hemp borers, and the European corn borer. The rootknot nematode is a problem in central northern Europe, and can be expected to spread. Fungal diseases include hemp canker and hemp rust, along with pythium disease and grey mold. Mice do very well in hemp fields, eating dropped seeds. Many of these can be controlled without much difficulty on smaller plots, but the kind of massive production scale that one would need to meet the US need for fiber and biodiesel would guarantee that these problems would become common.
Also, hemp is very susceptible to weather damage. Minor hailstorms can seriously damage a crop, drought will do you in, and if your water table is high or you get a long rain with standing water for 12 hours, it can kill the plants. Also, lots of rain can increase the risk of fungal diseases.
Hemp is also very susceptible to killing from a variety of herbicides, which can make it hard to use in fields where atrazines were previously used, so crop rotation, especially with corn, can be a challenge. Also, growing hemp near farms that spray plants by air is an invitation to disaster, as a bit of wind will give your hemp crop a stunting, if not lethal dose.
Just about any biodiesel is going to be a clean fuel oil. There are other just as good oil producing plants that we could use. Energy independence is a highly laudable goal, but farming hemp on a macro level would mean challenges from crop pests and disease, competition with neighboring farmers who spray their crops, and an increase in the cost of foods. We are already seeing competition for arable land for fuel crops with food crops causing an increase in food costs. This is not a situation where any one thing can be a magic bullet.
I've heard the same perfect protein line for eggs, soy and whey, occasionally others. There really is no such thing as a purest protein or healthiest protein. Also, the omega fatty acids aren't as super-incredible as they have been promoted by big food and big supplements.
Do you know why many books from era of the start of the movable type printing press and documents were made from hemp? It was the primary paper source for most of the world. Before that, vellum, an animal skin product was the best "paper." Acid free paper does the same job now, although British acts of parliament still use vellum, which lasts longer than any paper. The original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are preserved in argon gas filled containers to prevent further degradation, as time has already had an effect on them.
Most of this is true. Paper production is very wasteful and leads to lots of pollution. Hemp would be a better source of wood pulp for paper production than wood.
Any fiber or oil producing plant can fulfill this role, exactly as well as hemp.
Marinol is used quite well for glaucoma. As an anti-nausea drug, it works well. Otherwise, it hasn't done so well in clinical trials, relegating it to the non medical CAM market. There may be some interesting THC analogs that may be very useful in weight control, both to gain or lose weight, and they are being tested currently.
Give me peer reviewed research or take your cure all and shove it. Pointing to a guy with a cult following with some anecdotes will not convince me.
I'd like to see hemp and medical marijauna research opened up.
But here is where we go down the rabbit hole and start mixing conspiracy theories into a woo smoothie. I'm not even going to bother with this junk.
I took an interest in hemp as a possible fiber source for the production of cellulosic ethanol. I pitched the idea to the energy secretary for my state and he asked if hemp produced more tons of cellulose per acre than switchgrass. If it did, I should proceed with grant writing. It turns out that the two are equivalent, with switchgrass putting out a little more cellulose than hemp.
Because of this, there was no need to pursue the idea. Alas.
Hemp makes excellent rope and canvas, but requires lots and lots of processing to make a soft fabric. You could use cellulase, an enzyme that breaks down cellulose, to make the process a bit easier. As for softness and warmth, I have felt some extremely soft cottons, but for warmth, I'm going for synthetic fleece.
This isn't quite right, but it does get repeated by people who don't have a background in agriculture. I grew up on a farm that decades before had been used to produce hemp for the war effort (WW2). Hemp doesn't need much in the way of pesticides, certainly not as much as some food crops, or cotton, mainly because the plants produce many chemicals that most pests don't like. Nature didn't "do the programming" to protect hemp, evolution produced a plant that many pests cannot eat, which is in itself, not uncommon.
That said, there are many insects that co-evolved to be able to metabolize these chemicals, including hemp fleas, hemp moths, hemp borers, and the European corn borer. The rootknot nematode is a problem in central northern Europe, and can be expected to spread. Fungal diseases include hemp canker and hemp rust, along with pythium disease and grey mold. Mice do very well in hemp fields, eating dropped seeds. Many of these can be controlled without much difficulty on smaller plots, but the kind of massive production scale that one would need to meet the US need for fiber and biodiesel would guarantee that these problems would become common.
Also, hemp is very susceptible to weather damage. Minor hailstorms can seriously damage a crop, drought will do you in, and if your water table is high or you get a long rain with standing water for 12 hours, it can kill the plants. Also, lots of rain can increase the risk of fungal diseases.
Hemp is also very susceptible to killing from a variety of herbicides, which can make it hard to use in fields where atrazines were previously used, so crop rotation, especially with corn, can be a challenge. Also, growing hemp near farms that spray plants by air is an invitation to disaster, as a bit of wind will give your hemp crop a stunting, if not lethal dose.
Just about any biodiesel is going to be a clean fuel oil. There are other just as good oil producing plants that we could use. Energy independence is a highly laudable goal, but farming hemp on a macro level would mean challenges from crop pests and disease, competition with neighboring farmers who spray their crops, and an increase in the cost of foods. We are already seeing competition for arable land for fuel crops with food crops causing an increase in food costs. This is not a situation where any one thing can be a magic bullet.
I've heard the same perfect protein line for eggs, soy and whey, occasionally others. There really is no such thing as a purest protein or healthiest protein. Also, the omega fatty acids aren't as super-incredible as they have been promoted by big food and big supplements.
Do you know why many books from era of the start of the movable type printing press and documents were made from hemp? It was the primary paper source for most of the world. Before that, vellum, an animal skin product was the best "paper." Acid free paper does the same job now, although British acts of parliament still use vellum, which lasts longer than any paper. The original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are preserved in argon gas filled containers to prevent further degradation, as time has already had an effect on them.
Most of this is true. Paper production is very wasteful and leads to lots of pollution. Hemp would be a better source of wood pulp for paper production than wood.
Any fiber or oil producing plant can fulfill this role, exactly as well as hemp.
Marinol is used quite well for glaucoma. As an anti-nausea drug, it works well. Otherwise, it hasn't done so well in clinical trials, relegating it to the non medical CAM market. There may be some interesting THC analogs that may be very useful in weight control, both to gain or lose weight, and they are being tested currently.
Give me peer reviewed research or take your cure all and shove it. Pointing to a guy with a cult following with some anecdotes will not convince me.
I'd like to see hemp and medical marijauna research opened up.
But here is where we go down the rabbit hole and start mixing conspiracy theories into a woo smoothie. I'm not even going to bother with this junk.
)
