Hemp seed

I have a bag of hemp seed (from France) that I don't know what to do with. I looked online at various recipes and they're apparently full of nutrients but there's all sorts of conflicting advice. One site talks about cooking them, another says on no account should they be cooked because they become carcinogenic! One site says they must be washed so that the seeds float and the grit falls to the bottom, another, that they must be washed in a seive. There's talk of eating them raw as snacks but I can see that they're hard as hell. Anyone used them before? Or should I feed them to the birds?