cannabisnews.com: Manufacturers of Hemp Foods Gear Up for Fight





Manufacturers of Hemp Foods Gear Up for Fight
Posted by FoM on March 13, 2002 at 10:34:02 PT
By Carolyn Jung, Knight Ridder - Tribune
Source: Chicago Tribune 
A bitter food fight has broken out between the U.S. government and manufacturers of certain beers, bread, pretzels, cereals, granola bars and butterlike spreads that contain hemp.For years, health food manufacturers have touted the plant's seeds and oil as something close to a miracle nutrient, high in vitamin E and essential fatty acids, and richer in protein than meat and fish.
But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says hemp is on a par with marijuana. Not only is hemp part of the same plant, but it also contains small amounts of the same psychoactive substance that gives a joint its jolt.The debate has landed before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which may determine as early as next month whether hemp foods can continue to be sold.The decision will have strong repercussions in California, home to more hemp food manufacturers than any other state. Already, the issue has caused rifts within the small but vocal $5 million hemp food industry, confusion among retailers and anxiety among consumers who fear they might not be able to buy the products much longer."The United States is the only country that refuses to make a distinction between industrial hemp and the marijuana drug," says David Bronner of Escondido, Calif. He is president of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, which contains hemp oil, and chairman of the Hemp Industry Association's food and oils committee. "What the DEA is doing is ridiculous."But DEA officials say they are merely interpreting existing drug laws, not expanding them to encompass products once considered acceptable.The ruckus started Oct. 9, when the DEA issued a new rule on industrial hemp products in the Federal Register, which publishes federal regulations, executive orders, proclamations and proposed rules. The rule banned from food products any hemp seed and oil containing any trace of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active substance found in marijuana.Manufacturers and retailers initially were given until Feb. 6 to stop making and selling the products, but that deadline has been extended to March 18 to give the appellate court time to rule. (Hemp clothing and cosmetics, such as Bronner's soap, already are exempt because they do not cause THC to enter the body.)No taint to test The Hemp Industry Association says studies have shown that the trace amounts of THC in hemp foods cannot cause a high or result in a positive urine test for marijuana, even when unrealistically high amounts of hemp seed and oil are consumed.The amount of THC in industrial hemp oil, according to the association, is 0.0005 percent; in shelled hemp seed, it is 0.00015 percent. In comparison, it's about 10 percent in the illegal street drug, according to the Hemp Industry Association.Hemp has been grown for at least 5,000 years in China for its health properties, which include use as an anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, emollient and a diuretic, according to the association. But hemp foods didn't start appearing on U.S. store shelves until about 1992. Hemp seeds resemble sesame seeds with a taste described as similar to pine nuts or sunflower seeds. Some people say that certain hemp foods leave a strong, medicinal aftertaste.Manufacturers argue that their products are being singled out. Poppy-seed bagels, they note, contain a trace amount of opiate from poppies. Decaffeinated coffee contains a minuscule amount of caffeine. Nyquil lists alcohol as its first ingredient. And kava kava, an herbal supplement, is used as a mood-altering drink by Pacific Islanders and has been linked to liver toxicity cases in some European countries.But Congress specifically exempted poppy seeds from substance-abuse laws in 1970. And caffeine, alcohol and kava kava are not covered under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act."The act doesn't just name marijuana. It also names THC. That is the key difference," says DEA spokesman Will Glaspy.The fight for hempIn January, the Hemp Industry Association went on the counter-attack, filing an appeal in federal court to overturn the new DEA rule. Additionally, Kenex Ltd. of Canada, the largest exporter of hemp seed to the United States, has filed a notice of intent to sue the government under the North American Free Trade Agreement for impeding its access to U.S. markets. (U.S. laws already prevent hemp from being cultivated here.)Although the DEA began studying hemp foods before George W. Bush took office, some hemp proponents believe the timing of the new rule is not a coincidence. A few have even accused the DEA of purposely waiting until after Sept. 11 in hopes the new rule would be overlooked by a nation preoccupied with terrorism, a charge the DEA calls preposterous.Hemp products accounted for about $25 million in sales in 2000, mostly for clothing and cosmetics. Only about 20 companies make hemp foods, but food is considered the fastest-growing sector.According to the DEA, hemp and marijuana are separate parts of the same species of cannabis plant. The marijuana portions include the flowering tops or buds, the leaves and the resin. The rest of the plant--stalks and seeds--is considered hemp.Though widely grown in much of the world, growing industrial hemp is illegal in the United States, except in Hawaii, where it is being grown for research purposes.The Hemp Industry Association, though, considers hemp and marijuana different breeds because marijuana plants are bred for greater amounts of THC and hemp is not.Why not solve the dispute by eliminating all THC from any industrial hemp used in food? At least one hemp-foods manufacturer says it already has.HempNut Inc. of Santa Rosa, Calif., the largest importer of shelled hemp seeds in the United States, says that since 1994 its seeds have contained no THC. The company sells the seeds to other hemp-food companies and uses them in its own line of hemp cookies, butters and chips.According to president Richard Rose, the trace amount in industrial hemp is found in a resin on the seed's hull. Once the seeds are hulled, he says, the THC is removed, though others say even hulled seeds contain trace amounts."Frankly, we saw this coming a mile away," Rose says of the DEA's zero-tolerance declaration. "But everyone else wanted to fight it because they're activists."Good, and bad, for businessRose, one of the few manufacturers who thinks his peers should comply rather than fight the DEA, worries that the industry's stance will lead to the downfall of the hemp food market. He says he has already lost brokers and distributors for some products.But John Roulac, a plaintiff in the appeal and founder of Nutiva, a 3-year-old Sebastopol, Calif., company that makes bars and chips with hemp seed, says the controversy has been a boon for business. His sales doubled in January from December, and he expects them to double again this month."The whole DEA thing has been a blessing in disguise," he says.There is a similar split among retailers.Whole Foods, which sells about half a dozen brands of hemp-food products in its 130 stores nationwide, has said it will no longer carry such products without documentation from manufacturers that they meet DEA requirements. Whole Foods already has removed some items.But the five New Leaf markets in Santa Cruz County, Calif., are considering a petition drive against the DEA's action. "We haven't been contacted by anyone to take anything off the shelves and we won't unless someone does," says Nellie Donovan, manager of the Felton, Calif., store. "This is a thriving industry and these products are good for people."Paul Magdaleno, a Santa Cruz musician, agrees. He regularly shops at the New Leaf Market in Santa Cruz for hemp lip balm, hemp granola, hemp snack bars and hemp ale. He enjoys the food products, adding that hemp is pretty flavorless unless you bite down on a seed.Says the 31-year-old, "I just like the fact that these products are made from something good."Knight Ridder Newspapers correspondent Ken McLaughlin contributed to this report.Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)Author: Carolyn Jung, Knight Ridder - TribunePublished: March 13, 2002Copyright: 2002 Chicago Tribune CompanyContact: ctc-TribLetter Tribune.comWebsite: http://www.chicagotribune.com/Related Articles & Web Site:FTE's Hemp Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/hls.htmNinth Circuit Court Blocks DEA Hemp Rule http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12180.shtmlHemp Stays in Stores: DEA Hands Over Victory http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11952.shtmlFood Fight: DEA Cracks Down on Hemp Foodshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread11940.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by freddybigbee on March 14, 2002 at 10:01:49 PT:
Petty Harrassment
Just more petty harassment by our friends in Washington. Why not, it's not their hard-earned money that they waste on this crusade. I'd love to use hemp-seeds in cooking if I knew where to get them.To paraphrase Ayn Rand, the lowest thing a government can do is take people's money at gun-point (ie taxes) and use it to repress them. That sounds like business as usual to this American.
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Comment #3 posted by Jose Melendez on March 13, 2002 at 11:02:00 PT:
Expose hypocrisy - Arrest Prohibition
DEA chief Asa Hutchinson claimed it was, that they were just obeying the law, which according to Hutchinson banned any quantity of THC, no matter how minute. The problem is, Hutchinson lied. The Controlled Substances Act does indeed make an exception for such foods, as the Department of Justice -- of whichthe DEA is a part and to whose authority it is subject -- stated in a year 2000 memo that hemp food industry activists procured and made public. And Hutchinson never addressed why, if the law banned these foods, did the DEA in all previous decades since its founding in the 1970s consider the foods legal? DEA clearly knew that what they were doing was illegal, that they were unlawfully conspiring to put a legal industry out of business, hoping to get away with it and assuming they had nothing to lose by trying. 
Correct link to the rest of the story
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Comment #2 posted by DdC on March 13, 2002 at 11:00:24 PT
Replacing MEAT with Seeds? How Utterly Unfascist!
Hemp grain is the most nutritionally complete seed on the planet for human consumption. Each hemp seed contains 25% protein. This protein is more easily digestible than the protein in soybeans because it contains a perfect ratio of essential fatty acids (EFA's). EFA's are important for strengthening your immune system and
protecting you from disease. Fish oil and flax oil are also high in EFA's, but hemp contains the most perfect ratio of EFA's for human consumption. Hemp grain is also high in iron and calcium and is an excellent source of dietary fiber. Hemp Food Association
http://www.hempfood.com/Pacific Hemp
http://www.pacifichemp.com/Hemptech
http://www.hemptech.com/IHA
http://mojo.calyx.net/~olsen/HEMP/IHA/Monsantos
http://www.monsantos.comFight Frankenfoods
http://fightfrankenfood.com/Hemp links
http://www.hempseed.com/linkability.htmlCollusion Between the Government and Dairy-Meat Industries
http://www.trufax.org/research/f6.html
Thomas Jefferson vs D.E.A.th
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Comment #1 posted by Jose Melendez on March 13, 2002 at 11:00:15 PT:
Expose hypocrisy - Arrest Prohibition
DEA chief Asa Hutchinson claimed it was, that they were just obeying the law, which according to Hutchinson banned any quantity of THC, no matter how minute. The problem is, Hutchinson lied. The Controlled Substances Act does indeed make an exception for such foods, as the Department of Justice -- of whichthe DEA is a part and to whose authority it is subject -- stated in a year 2000 memo that hemp food industry activists procured and made public. And Hutchinson never addressed why, if the law banned these foods, did the DEA in all previous decades since its founding in the 1970s consider the foods legal? DEA clearly knew that what they were doing was illegal, that they were unlawfully conspiring to put a legal industry out of business, hoping to get away with it and assuming they had nothing to lose by trying. 
The rest of the story...
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