– press release of The Czech Hemp Cluster (CzecHemp) regarding the “Potential of Hemp” seminary held in the Czech Parliament on 18th February 2020
Prague, Czech Republic, 25th February 2020 – On Tuesday, February 18, a seminar was held in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, organized by the vice-chairman of the Agricultural committee Radek Holomčík in cooperation with CzecHemp. The event, with mass attendance, presented the possibilities offered by technical hemp through presentations by Czech growers and processors.
Tomáš Sadílek and Petr Polanský (both ICCI) started the first block of the seminar with an introduction to the current legal framework. Their experience in hemp was shared by Aleš Jindra, managing director of the leading Czech grower KonoPro; Miloš Beran (VÚPP – Food Research Institute Prague), dealing with food use of hemp as a super food; Tomáš Rohal (Bohempia) – a manufacturer of hemp footwear and clothing; a pioneer of cannabis construction in the Czech Republic Jan Bešík (MABEKO) and Jan Martin Paďouk (CanaCare), who informed the participants about the news from the treatment by cannabinoids applications. The block was closed by the lecture of CzecHemp‘ President Hana Gabrielová (Hempoint) on environmental aspects of hemp growing and its connection with the Agenda 2030 and the European Green Deal.
Representatives of organizations already active or interested in hemp appeared in the second block – Dagmar Milerová Prášková from the Institute of Circular Economics (INCIEN), Radim Kotrba from the Association of Private Farming of the Czech Republic, Prokop Šmirous from the Flax and Hemp Association of the Czech Republic and Olga Chybová from the Textile, Clothing and Leather Industry Association of the Czech Republic.
There was also presented a proposal to remove legislative barriers to the development of the hemp industry experiencing a global boom. CzecHemp white paper summarizes the current situation and recommendations for the future.
CzecHemp analyzed the existing legislation and proposes to:
- introduce a tolerance on the non-technologically removable THC residues in the processed part of the hemp plant and in the hemp products;
- list hemp products in the Decrees of the Ministry of Agriculture regarding food, while ensuring consumer health protection; and
- issue of an uniform methodology for assessing the THC content of the hemp plant.
All above to ensure better conditions for technical hemp cultivation and processing in the Czech Republic.
Hana Gabrielová, President of the Czech Hemp Cluster, states:
“CzecHemp welcomes the expressed will of parliamentary parties to address the issue and is ready to provide expert opinions and specific recommended values based on current scientific knowledge so as to enable industrial processing of technical hemp on the one hand and, on the other hand, ensure consumers health protection and prevent the abuse or gain of restricted substances by readily available or cost-effective means.“ As for her seminar lecture, Hana Gabrielová states: „Hemp cultivation has significant meaning for the soil revitalization, slow-down of biodiversity reduction and fight against the global climate change, thanks to the ability to bind carbon dioxide. Thanks to its wide range of uses, hemp is a fully-fledged alternative to fossil sources as a renewable biological resource. It is therefore high time to remove the hemp industry’s legislative barriers so that the bio-economics for the 21st century could begin to build on the crop.”
CONTACTS
Český konopný klastr, z.s.
(Czech Hemp Cluster)
Rousínov 47
473 01 Svor
Web: https://www.czechemp.cz/english
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CzecHemp/
LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/company/czechemp/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CzecHemp
Hana Gabrielová
President
Tel.: +420 777 027 012
E-mail: prezidentka@czechemp.cz
Ondřej Krásný
Manager
Tel.: +420 773 972 709
E-mail: manazer@czechemp.cz