HIGH HOPES FOR HEMP SPORTSWEAR

VANCOUVER (CP) - Hemptown Clothing Inc. has enlisted the in its war on
cotton.

The Vancouver-headquartered company - which says producing a cotton T-shirt
deposits more than one-eighth of a kilogram of chemicals in the environment
and consumes 6,500 litres of water - bills itself as the world's largest
brand of T-shirts made from hemp, whose leaves yield marijuana.

Hemptown is collaborating with the NRC to develop a patentable enzyme
technology process "that may see hemp fibres replace cotton worldwide."

The aim is to produce hemp clothing fabric that would match cotton in price,
while eliminating cotton's heavy consumption of irrigation water and
agricultural chemicals.

"This ground-breaking fibre technology is expected to be delivered into the
market within the next three years," Hemptown says.

"Hemptown was identified as an ideal partner for NRC," stated Scott
Ferguson, the business development officer at the research council's
Institute for Biological Sciences.

"We are excited about the prospects for this collaboration, which could
ultimately revolutionize the apparel industry as well as many other
industrial applications," Ferguson said.

Some hemp facts, according to the California-headquartered Hemp Industries
Association:

- - Hemp is among the oldest industries, going back more than 10,000 years to
the beginnings of pottery.

- - U.S. presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew hemp, and the
American government subsidized hemp during the Second World War to produce
rope.

- - Hemp seed contains more essential fatty acids than any other vegetable
source, is second only to soybeans in complete protein, is high in
B-vitamins and is 35 per cent dietary fibre.

On the other hand, it is not psychoactive.

- - The bark of the hemp stalk contains some of the world's longest natural
soft fibres and are rich in cellulose. Hemp stalk also doesn't make you
high.

- - Hemp grows enthusiastically without herbicides, fungicides or pesticides -
hey, it's a weed! - while cotton consumes almost half the chemicals applied
to American crops.

- - Hemp produces more pulp per acre than timber on a sustainable basis, and
can be used for every quality of paper, with reduced need for chlorine
bleaching.

- - Experimental hemp fibreboard is twice as strong as wood-based fibreboard.