No Compromise Hemp and the Environment Though the following issue is controversial, we cannot allow the type of propaganda that tells us that landfills and nuclear power are safe to mislead us from the sustainable possibilities of hemp. Hemp has been used in everything from papermaking to food production for over 6,000 years. Hemp can reduce the land needed to produce paper by over 75%. This can save over one billion trees per year, while greatly reducing the toxicity of paper production. All of this is done without the added chore of sorting paper for recycling! Virtually all paper produced in the US until the turn of the century was produced from hemp. Hemp paper lasts longer than other papers. The original draft of the "Declaration of Independence" and the Gutenberg Bible are on hemp paper. Hemp can produce longer lasting denim, canvass, and linen using fewer acres and pesticides than any other plant! While cotton uses more pesticides and chemical fertilizers than any other crop, hemp produces three times more fiber organically. During the 1930s, it was estimated that over half of the linens imported into the US were made of hemp. Italy still produces fine linens made of hemp. Hemp can produce more edible protein per acre than any other plant including soybeans! The seeds can be used much like soy- beans to produce a variety of food products. Hemp can also produce 10 to 50 times the alcohol fuel as corn. Only 6% of U.S. cropland devoted to hemp is needed to meet all of the U.S.'s energy needs freeing it from foreign oil conflicts, acid rain, and nuclear waste. Over 5,000 textiles can be made from hempfiber while the hurds off the same plant produce cellulose which can be used in over 25,000 products. Meanwhile the seeds and their oil can be used to make paints, lamp fuel, lubricants, and be eaten as food. SOURCES: USDA film "Hemp for Victory" 1942, Popular Mechanics article "New Billion Dollar Crop" February 1938, USDA Agricultural Statistics 1916-1942. For further information contact NO COMPROMISE, 173 Jackson St., Madison, WI 53704. (608) 241-9716. (PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE)