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Cereals, snack bars, and other foods made with a seed that’s full of concentrated nutrients for your heart and skin are in danger of being pulled from the food supply forever. Hemp seeds rival soy in protein content and are a potent source of essential fatty acids (EFAs), vitamin E, and antioxidants. But nutrition buffs aren’t the only ones noticing hemp — legal circles are buzzing, too.

The move has generated a firestorm of controversy among natural foods producers and consumers. The mainstream media has added to the controversy by misreporting the DEA action as a ban on all hemp foods. This, in turn, has caused lost business for manufacturers because many retailers and distributors think all hemp foods must be removed from store shelves. The DEA move has also given rise to several legal challenges by industry groups and members.

That the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa) is used as food initially surprises and confuses most people. The public information system has largely restricted knowledge of hemp to its use for obtaining marijuana (Cannabis sativa), with its leaf content of the psychoactive substance delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), rope and cloth from the fiber of the plant, and paper from the plant stalk. Yet both the oldest Chinese agricultural treatise, the Xia Xiao Zheng, written in the 16th century BC, and other Chinese records discuss hemp as one of the major grain crops grown in ancient China.

While most farmers await the naming of a new agricultural secretary, a much smaller group of agriculturalists awaits new leadership in another area of government. They are more concerned with who will head up the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The good news is: Industrial hemp grows quickly and can be cultivated year-round in Hawaii. The bad news is: Hawaii’s fledgling industrial hemp research may soon be stymied by a lack of seed sources, since importation of hemp seeds is illegal under federal law.