Bamboo

*snorfle*

I believe you are right on all counts.

If my memory serves me correctly, when Prohibition was repealed in the US the FBI had to formulate some excuse to retain its budget. That's when most of the modern "drug" laws came into effect. Some of those laws make a certain amount of sense (heroin is not good for living creatures except as a painkiller), and some do not. Hemp as grown for normal industrial purposes (as opposed to recreational drug purposes) has almost no THC. I'm from Minnesota, and Minnesota Green is a totally non-narcotic hemp. But because it was more profitable for government agencies to simply regard all hemp as narcotic, we have the laws we know today.

However, I never connected those laws with the petroleum industry. You may have a very interesting point!

It looks like they have yardage.Didn't read enough to see if it's reasonable, environmental orwhatever, but does look like they sell the stuff.

Sunny

I have a link to site that sells fabric for childrens diapers, and they list bamboo fabric. I was looking everywhere for the stuff myself... Anyhow back when I was trying desperately they were out... and until now I forgot about it lol. I did buy some of the waterproof diaper cover fabric from them however and recieved good service, good fabric fast shipping etc etc. They have changed their web site a bit, and it seems now upon a revists they are carrying a bamboo/cotton blend, however they might know where you can get just the plain stuff.

Carissa

Thank you! Those look lovely. If I can't find anything closer to home, I'll certainly consider them.

Thanks! I'll take a look...

Interesting. With all the push 'green' products have started to get, it will be interesting to watch and see if it makes it's way into ready made items and how easily available they are. Thanks for enlightening me a bit.

It's a rayon made from bamboo feedstock. Heavy for the loft of the fabric, which would make the quilt weigh a ton...

Kay

How would DuPont have sold it's new fiber invention, nylon, if the less expensive hemp was still on the market? Debra in VA See my quilts at

Actually, nylon was a replacement for silk. Parachutes were made of silk and during WWII silk was expensive and becoming very scares and demand far exceeded supply......first used for parachutes, eventually stockings, the rest is history.

Val

Check out this site Kate,

. Lots of info about the fiber, products, manufacturers, distributors and contact info. Maybe that will help. There's even a little Brit flag in the top right corner, I think it was put there just for *your* convenience ;) During my "UK" searching I found several sites that sold baby quilts and buntings of "100% bamboo". That may be a positive indication that they used a batting of bamboo fiber. Natural anti microbial fiber seemed to be the main descriptive selling point so it was hard to tell.

Val

On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 15:39:05 -0700, "Val" wrote:

Consider politics. By the 1930s, hemp was actually a crop of minimal importance in the US. It was still much valued for making rope, coarse textiles and for the oil from the seeds. However since most hemp used for such was imported, eliminating the crop in the US would not hurt much. Now consider US relations with the Philippines in the very late 19th and early 20th century. It was a mess to put it lightly. What ended up happening was really the beginning of the throw a lot of money at it and that will make it all better US foriegn policy. The US wanted a strong foothold in Asia and the Pacific. In order to accomplish part of this, they decided to pump up the economy via US buisness investments in the Philippines. At the time the Philippines was largely agrarian. The cotton crop had been rendered unprofitable in favor of cotton from other countries. The rice crop was not even sufficient to feed the people there. The only other crops that were of any size to be seriously profitable were tobacco, cacao, and sisal. So, over the next 30 years Indonesian cigars suddenly became a rage, and every man woman and child in the archipelago was encouraged to take up smoking. Cacao began to move from luxury item to staple. Sisal proved to be more of a problem. Who wanted to make things from sisal when the far superior true hemp was available? The answer was nobody. So starting somewhere between 1915 and 1920 the campaign to outlaw hemp began, initially playing on the bigoted tripe that the Hearst publications were infamous for in that time frame. Lots of articles about "darkies getting uppity, and chicanos showing no respect after smoking rope." Then in 1931 Andrew Mellon (of the Mellon Bank of Pittsburgh, financier of many DuPont projects, and long-time supporter of Hearst), serving as President Hoover's Secretary of the Treasury, appointed his future nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger to be head of the newly reorganized Federal Narcotics Bureau. Shortly thereafter DuPont testified before congressional commitee that petro sources could replace hemp oil in most applications. In 1937 DuPont, prior to hemp being outlawed, issued it's annual report which contained things that make one think they knew what was coming. Anslinger testified against hemp before congress using as evidence the garbage that Hearst had published. The AMA and the American Association of Oil Seed Growers testified for hemp and were startled to hear their testimony twisted backwards. In 1937 the Marijuana Tax Act was adopted, effectively outlawing most hemp in the US. So now things that were formerly made of hemp are now made of sisal or jute. And by 1960 we were desperatly trying to hang on to that foothold in southeast asia, not for the tobacco, cacao, and sisal, but for the rare earth elements needed to build solid state circuitry. Domino theory my Great Aunt Fanny's left hind wart!

NightMist getting windy about history again

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