Cannabis not such a dope

You might think of cannabis purely as a drug. But scientists at the Central
Science Laboratory near York are preparing to investigate a vast range of
alternative uses from wax crayons to horse bedding. MIKE LAYCOCK reports.

WHEN Melvyn Askew argues the case for cannabis, he isn't entering into the
debate over the pros and cons of soft drug legalisation. The scientist, who
recently arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture's Central Science
Laboratory at Sand Hutton, says there is a vast and growing range of
potential industrial uses for the stem and seeds of the cannabis plant.

He says the foamy pith from the stem of hemp plants can be used to make
bedding materials for horses, far more absorbent and much less likely to
cause allergy problems than traditional straw. The strong and long fibre
from hemp can also be spun to make yarns for everything from sackcloth to
car upholstery and jeans. It can be used to make wallboard, parchment and
paper, with the advantage that it contains little lignin, which causes
paper to turn yellow.

There are even more potential uses for oils from the cannabis seeds
including the manufacture of wax crayons for children, lip balm for outdoor
sportsmen and women, perfume, furniture polish and even soap powder.

Hemp is still a proscribed plant in Britain and all growers need Home
Office approval before sowing hemp crops, and they may only use named
varieties with exceedingly low content of the cannabis drug. Even so,
Melvyn says the future of the plant is bright, provided farming and
industry are prepared to take advantage of the potential uses.

The first cannabis plants have recently been nurtured in one of the CSL's
greenhouses. Work will soon commence on developing varieties that will
produce the best stems and seeds for industrial use. Research will look at
the chemical composition of the plant and also, in conjunction with a Swiss
government research agency, work on improving the quality of the hemp fibre.

Melvyn, head of alternative crops and biotechnology at the CSL, says his
role is to develop the use of noncereal and industrial crops, and make
farmers and industrialists aware of of how much potential there is in such
crops and discover from them what they want. He is also coordinator of the
IENICA project, the Industrial European Network for Industrial Crops and
their Applications, which aims to ensure that developments can be
coordinated across Europe and information exchanged between industrialists,
researchers and policy makers.

Science column sponssored by Smith+Nephew

[Photo Melvyn Askew with some of the alternative uses for cannabis]

[Photo Cannabis plants growing in the CSL greenhouses]