Pubdate: Mon, 18 Feb 2013
Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)
Copyright: 2013 Star Advertiser
Contact: 
http://www.staradvertiser.com/info/Star-Advertiser_Letter_to_the_Editor.html
Website: http://www.staradvertiser.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5154
Author: Cynthia Thielen
Note: Cynthia Thielen represents the 50th District (Kailua, Kaneohe 
Bay) in the state House of Representatives.

HEMP PLANT IS EXCITING AGRICULTURAL OPPORTUNITY FOR HAWAII

It is ironic that our country's Declaration of Independence was 
drafted on hemp paper, because any mention of hemp today is likely to 
be met with raised eyebrows.

However, the public perception of hemp, which is not the same plant 
as marijuana, might be on the verge of a dramatic national shift.

Last week, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I am 
convinced that allowing (hemp's) production will be a positive 
development for Kentucky's farm families and economy. The utilization 
of hemp to produce everything from clothing to paper is real and if 
there is a capacity to center a new domestic industry in Kentucky 
that will create jobs in these difficult economic times, that sounds 
like a good thing to me."

McConnell is cosponsoring the Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013.

For centuries, hemp was a major crop in the Americas, Europe and 
Asia, where it was - and still is - used in rope, textiles, nets, 
paper, oils, cosmetics and food. Abraham Lincoln illuminated his home 
with lamp oil made from hemp seeds. The Puritans grew hemp, as did 
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. The Founding 
Fathers promoted a hemp-based economy for the new country. Some of 
the colonies even required farmers to grow the endlessly useful crop, 
seeing it as necessary to their survival.

Our state has a chance to lead the nation in this exciting 
agricultural opportunity. Hawaii's climate and soil offer ideal 
conditions for cultivation - and in return, where hemp grows, it 
cleanses the soil of pesticides, oil, gasoline and other toxins 
through a process called "phytoremediation." Industrial hemp 
phytoremediation works so well, it was used to help clean up and stop 
further soil contamination after the nuclear power plant catastrophe 
at Chernobyl.

This soil-cleansing characteristic is the focus of House Bill 154, a 
bill moving fast through the Legislature, which authorizes the state 
Board of Agriculture to establish an industrial hemp remediation 
pilot program. The purpose clause of the bill explains that the 
"state's extensive agricultural operations in the past have left 
toxins in vast tracts of land. Phytoremediation will remove these toxins."

HB 154 establishes a two-year hemp phytoremediation pilot project to 
extract toxins such as metals, pesticides, solvents, explosive and 
crude oil without the need to remove any of the contaminated topsoil. 
This process will leave a clean, balanced and nutrient-rich soil, 
which can then be safely used for agriculture or improving 
conservation habitats.

Today, in Hawaii and the rest of this country, you can buy hemp beer, 
hemp iced tea, hemp carryall bags, hemp shirts, hemp sheets, blankets 
and tortilla chips (corn chips sprinkled with hemp seeds). You can 
even wrap your baby's bottom in hemp diapers. And hempseed oil isn't 
just for Honest Abe's lamps. The oil from this little seed is packed 
with essential amino acids, essential fatty acids (Omega 3, Omega 6), 
and magnesium.

We must get beyond the irrational opposition to this valuable plant. 
We know Hawaii is an ideal place to grow hemp - we did it in 1999, 
with the Hawaii Industrial Hemp Research Project. We can do it again.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom