OIL EMERGES VICTORIOUS

There was a growing market for hemp in the first half of the 20th century. In 1941 Henry Ford introduced his “hemp car.” Instead of steel, its body was made of bioplastic (70% cellulose fiber and 30% resin binder, with about 10% of its fill derived from hemp fibers). Ford claimed his all-plastic car would be 300 pounds lighter than comparable steel models with 10 times the impact resistance. In 1935 the chemical giant Dupont started making the synthetic thermoplastic polymer Nylon from crude oil (photo: Nylon fibers on a loom); some historians allege hemp’s potential for market share competition was one reason the natural fiber was suppressed. Another unique aspect of Ford’s innovation: The car ran on hemp-ethanol biofuel, which may have been viewed as competition by the Rockerfeller family’s Standard Oil company, further fueling an industrial anti-hemp agenda. (It’s also worth noting that Dupont manufactured a gasoline additive called tetraethyl lead [a known poison], and Dupont was a shareholder in Ford’s major competitor, General Motors.)