WEBVTT - How does hemp work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff Works dot com where

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<v Speaker 1>smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, how

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<v Speaker 1>does hamp work? When most people think about fibers for cloth,

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<v Speaker 1>what they think about is things like cotton or wool.

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<v Speaker 1>With cotton and wool, you can comb them out, spin

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<v Speaker 1>them and create thread very easily. This thread is great

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<v Speaker 1>for making cloth that's soft to the skin, but it's

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<v Speaker 1>not very strong. Hamp, on the other hand, is a

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<v Speaker 1>lot like flax and flaxes where linning comes from. In

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<v Speaker 1>both hemp and flax, the fibers are in the stock

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<v Speaker 1>of the plant. The fibers are something like the threads

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<v Speaker 1>you see in a stock of celery. Their long, stringy

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<v Speaker 1>and tough to get at. The fibers you comb them

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<v Speaker 1>out of the woody part of the dried stock. The

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<v Speaker 1>fibers tend to be coarser than cotton or wool. But

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<v Speaker 1>they are very strong. This strength makes hemp great for

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<v Speaker 1>things like rope. The reason why hemp shows up in

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<v Speaker 1>organic magazines and catalogs is because it's very friendly to

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<v Speaker 1>the environment. For example, environmentally conscious people like these aspects

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<v Speaker 1>of hemp. First, cotton raised in the United States requires

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<v Speaker 1>millions of pounds of pesticides of fertilizers. It's a very

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<v Speaker 1>intensive crop that takes a lot out of land. Bugs

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<v Speaker 1>like bowl weevils love cotton, and they must be killed

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<v Speaker 1>with insecticides. Hemp, on the other hand, is a weed.

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<v Speaker 1>You can grow hemp using much less fertilizer and pesticide. Second,

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<v Speaker 1>hemp fibers can be used in many different ways. With hemp.

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<v Speaker 1>You can make cloth, paper, cardboard, fiber board, and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other stuff. By using hemp for paper and construction materials,

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<v Speaker 1>pressure is removed from forests. Hemp also grows much faster

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<v Speaker 1>and more densely than trees do. The problem with hemp

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<v Speaker 1>is that the hemp plant is also known as the

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<v Speaker 1>cannabis plant, which is also known as the marijuana plant.

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<v Speaker 1>This connection to marijuana is what makes hemp such a

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<v Speaker 1>hot issue in the United States. There are varieties of

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<v Speaker 1>fiber hemp that eliminate the drug component of the plant

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<v Speaker 1>to a large degree, But the concern is that it

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<v Speaker 1>would be very easy to hide drug plants in a

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<v Speaker 1>crop of fiber plants. So at the moment, hemp production

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States is stalled and it's a source

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<v Speaker 1>of continuous debate. Do you have any ideas or suggestions

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<v Speaker 1>for this podcast? If so, please send me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more

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<v Speaker 1>on this and thousands of other topics, go to how

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