Hemp Oil Sales in Jeopardy

It took almost a year of persistent selling for Martine Carlina to
convince a well-known American lip balm maker to use her company's
organic hemp oil instead of a cheaper European variety.

When the vice-president of Biohemp Technologies in Regina closed the
deal for a dozen 204-litre drums with the Merry Hempsters of Eugene,
Ore., she felt she was making inroads into established bulk hemp oil
markets.

But this spring, the Canadian government put a big detour sign in
front of Carlina's marketing plans.

Customs officials started stopping U.S.-made hemp cosmetic products at
the border because they didn't come with documentation showing their
levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC.

Health Canada regulations state hemp products must not contain more
than 10 parts per million of THC, which is the psychoactive element in
marijuana, the illegal cousin of hemp.

THC levels in the Merry Hempsters' fruit-flavored lip balms are well
under 10 ppm, said company president Gerry Shapiro, because they are
made with Canadian hemp oil, which must also be under 10 ppm THC.

He was surprised when his shipments of lip balms, which are sold in
Canadian grocery and health food stores, were turned back at the border
this spring.

Shapiro had been exporting the lip balms to Canada without incident
for more than four years.

He said he can't afford to have every batch of each of his 23 products
tested for THC, at a cost of $150 to $200 (US) per test.

It doesn't make sense to test twice, added Carlina, noting Biohemp
Technologies tests its oil for THC.

Carlina and Shapiro believe Health Canada should accept imported
products made with Canadian hemp oil providing a paper trail and
affidavits accompany them.

"We don't understand why something can't be worked out."

She is lobbying Health Canada with the help of other hemp oil
producers, cosmetics makers, distributors, retailers, and the Canadian
Health Food Association.

Health Canada spokesperson Roslynne Tremblay said the testing
regulation has been in place since 1998.

She said that without it, officials wouldn't know what's in the
products. Hemp is still a "controlled substance," she added.

Tremblay said she doesn't know regulatory enforcement seems to have
changed this spring."It sounds as though there was a period of
tolerance, maybe that could be it."

Shapiro said government officials seem to be worried about THC
accumulating in the body through lip balm, which he calls "bad
science."

"There is a lot of misinformation that rolls around bureaucratic
circles regarding hemp."


NewsHawk: http://www.cannabisnews.com/
Source: Western Producer (CN SN)
Author: Roberta Rampton, Winnipeg Bureau
Published: January 4, 2001
Copyright: 2001 The Western Producer
Address: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7K 2C4
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