10 Astounding Facts about Hemp and Cannabis.
Many people merely associate cannabis with recreational uses, here are 10 astounding facts about Hemp & Cannabis.
Here we begin in no particular order –
Radioactive zones.
1. Kicking off our 10 astounding facts with the single most perplexing thing you probably didn’t know about is that it can eliminate toxins and radioactive material from the environment. So much so, scientists who planted it at Chernobyl found that hemp conducted phytoremediation and removed chemicals from the soil better than any other plant.
Breast Milk.
2. Strangely even breast milk contains nutrients found in seeds. Yes, the seed contains an oil that’s rich in gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and this is also found in breast milk. The oil has other omega-3 and 6 fatty acids, too, which makes it healthier than most varieties of vegetable oil.
Industrial applications
3. Not only is it used as materials to build vehicles, it can also be used to power vehicles, likewise the oil from seeds can be converted into a biodegradable and non-toxic biodiesel. Potentially the answer to the worlds fossil fuel reliance.
4. Uniquely all United states schoolbooks were made from hemp or flax paper until the 1880s.
Historical Uses.
More astounding facts.
5. For millennia, 90% of all ships’ sails and rope were made from it. The word ‘canvas’ comes from the Olde English word “canvas” which comes from the Latin word Canapus or Cannabis.
6. Moreover, earliest Bibles, maps, charts, as well as the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were made from hemp.
7. Again our oldest known records of farming go back 5000+ years to ancient China, although hemp industrialization probably goes back as far as ancient Egypt where medical cannabis is referenced in numerous Egyptian texts.
8. Quality paints and varnishes were manufactured from seed oil until 1937. 50,000+ tons of seeds were used in America for paint products in 1935. We know this because of Sherman Williams Paint Co.’ testimony before the U.S.Congress against the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.
9. Rembrandt’s, Van Gogh’s, Gainsborough’s, as well as most early canvas paintings were almost entirely painted on hemp linen. Furthermore, the Mona Lisa is painted on canvas made from hemp.
10. Henry Ford’s very first Model-T was built to run on biofuel in addition to the car itself which was created from hemp. On his large estate, Ford was photographed among his hemp fields. The car, ‘grown from the soil,’ had plastic panels whose impact strength was 10 times stronger than steel. (Popular Mechanics, 1941.)
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Sources :
Popular Mechanics, 1941.
U.S. Government Archives.
Wikipedia
Jack Frazier. Hemp Paper Reconsidered. 1974.
