HEMP DAY

Editor, Naples Daily News:

Joseph Jordan made a wonderful statement regarding the use of
industrial hemp as an alternative fuel source.

The following is a list of scientific and historical facts regarding
the use of industrial hemp oil.

Rudolph Diesel designed his engine to run on hemp oil.

Henry Ford experimented with hemp to build car bodies, because he
wanted to build and fuel cars from farm products.

BMW is experimenting with hemp materials in cars as part of an effort
to make cars more recyclable.

Hemp oil once greased machines, and did you know that most paints,
resins, shellacs and varnishes used to be made out of hemp oil, and
they were far less toxic than those produced today.

Also, back in 1938, Popular Mechanics described hemp as a "new
billion-dollar crop." That's back when a billion was real money.

Americans need to think of hemp and marijuana as we think of sweet
corn and feed corn. They both look the same, but are different in many
ways. The more we educate ourselves to the benefits of industrial
hemp, the more we can push for this "God-given" plant to be legalized.

The sooner we can stop the damage that we are doing to our great
Mother Earth, the better our future will be. Anyone interested in
learning more, please e-mail me at abferreira@go.com.

Andrea B. Ferreira

Naples