HE'D WEED OUT METAL AUTOS

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Australian researchers believe that within a decade, cars could be made of
hemp - the cannabis plant - as backyards and dumps overflow with rusty
metal hulks and vehicle makers turn to biodegradable materials for car bodies.

Alan Crosky, of the University of New South Wales' Material Science and
Engineering School, says hemp turned out to be the most viable material,
beating coconuts and banana trees in preliminary studies.

"Disposal of old cars is a growing problem. It is only a matter of time
before the expense of disposal becomes the owner's responsibility and the
consumer is forced to pay the full life-cycle costs of their car," Crosky
said today.

"Because this will increase the cost of cars, developing an environmentally
friendly material that can be used to make the bodies of cars is now a
viable option," he said.

Crosky said he had begun researching hemp to find ways of making sure it
does not become brittle and could protect the passengers of a vehicle
during an accident. He said hemp - made from the cannabis plant but
containing only minute amounts of the narcotic tetrahydrocannabinol - was
like fiberglass, but a natural product.

"It's renewable, you don't have to put as much energy into making it, and
best of all, burning it doesn't get off anymore carbon dioxide than it
absorbed during growing, what we call CO2 neutral," Crosky said.

Hemp is widely used in making textiles and rope.

Research was at the preliminary stage but Crosky believed it would not be
too long before hemp cars became a reality.

"It might take a decade," he said. *