Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Three state agencies in a letter reminded marijuana producers in Oregon to be careful using pesticides in the wake of two recent public health alerts.
The letter states that cannabis producers whose products test below "action levels" for permitted pesticides may still fall afoul of state regulations if they use pesticides banned by the state Pesticide Control Act.
Action levels do not indicate product safety, only the presence of a pesticide in a measurable amount, said Jonathan Modie, spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority.
The letter, co-signed Monday by the heads of the Health Authority, Oregon Liquor Control Commission and Oregon Department of Agriculture, also reminds growers that failed test results are referred to the Agriculture Department for further investigation.
"The thing we've been seeing quite a bit of is failed test results for pesticides that have come in over our agency's action level for pesticides," he said, "and that's concerning."
An action level is a low pesticide measure that the authority requires of testing laboratories as a measure of accuracy, said David Farrer, Oregon Health Authority toxicologist. The lower the level measured, the more sophisticated the equipment, he said. The action level does not imply a safe level, Farrer said.
In fact, little is known about the health effects of pesticides on cannabis, Farrer and Modie said. Heating or burning, especially, produces compounds from pesticides whose effects on the body are unknown, they said.
"Smoking marijuana products involves consuming products that are carcinogens," Modie said. "We're the Health Authority, we don't want anyone to be breathing any kind of smoke."
The test failures and health alerts came after the Health Authority and Oregon Liquor Control Commission in early October agreed to temporary, relaxed testing standards in order to relieve a backlog at the time at a handful of private, certified testing laboratories. Modie said the state system worked to identify the tainted batches. He said also that consumers should check the labels on marijuana products that contain information on pesticide levels.
None of the health alerts affected marijuana dispensaries in Central Oregon, he said. The first alert, Oct. 21, stated that about 130 consumers had purchased marijuana at a McMinnville dispensary with higher than the action level, 0.2 parts per million, of the pesticide spinosad.
The second alert, Nov. 3, advised that about 370 consumers bought tainted cannabis at three dispensaries in North Bend, Salem and Eugene. In that case, the Health Authority discovered high levels of spinosad on marijuana in the Eugene dispensary and levels of piperonyl butoxide higher than its action level, 2.0 ppm, at the other two.
The Agriculture Department, which has oversight of pesticides, lists piperonyl butoxide as low risk for use on cannabis. Spinosad is not on that list. The Health Authority tests for spinosad as an illegal pesticide on marijuana, even though it has an action level.
"No lab can certify zero," Farrer said. "What we're testing for is presence or absence, it's there or not there, but there has to be some number associated with it."
The authority is investigating how the tainted marijuana reached the dispensaries from the growers; the Agriculture Department is investigating how the pesticides were applied, according to the health alerts.
"Those things are under investigation and running the normal course of our investigation," said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the Agriculture Department, on Tuesday. "So, there is no resolution at this point."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: State Agencies Warn Cannabis Growers
Author: Joseph Ditzler
Contact: 541-382-1811
Photo Credit: Santiago Mejia
Website: The Bulletin
The letter states that cannabis producers whose products test below "action levels" for permitted pesticides may still fall afoul of state regulations if they use pesticides banned by the state Pesticide Control Act.
Action levels do not indicate product safety, only the presence of a pesticide in a measurable amount, said Jonathan Modie, spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority.
The letter, co-signed Monday by the heads of the Health Authority, Oregon Liquor Control Commission and Oregon Department of Agriculture, also reminds growers that failed test results are referred to the Agriculture Department for further investigation.
"The thing we've been seeing quite a bit of is failed test results for pesticides that have come in over our agency's action level for pesticides," he said, "and that's concerning."
An action level is a low pesticide measure that the authority requires of testing laboratories as a measure of accuracy, said David Farrer, Oregon Health Authority toxicologist. The lower the level measured, the more sophisticated the equipment, he said. The action level does not imply a safe level, Farrer said.
In fact, little is known about the health effects of pesticides on cannabis, Farrer and Modie said. Heating or burning, especially, produces compounds from pesticides whose effects on the body are unknown, they said.
"Smoking marijuana products involves consuming products that are carcinogens," Modie said. "We're the Health Authority, we don't want anyone to be breathing any kind of smoke."
The test failures and health alerts came after the Health Authority and Oregon Liquor Control Commission in early October agreed to temporary, relaxed testing standards in order to relieve a backlog at the time at a handful of private, certified testing laboratories. Modie said the state system worked to identify the tainted batches. He said also that consumers should check the labels on marijuana products that contain information on pesticide levels.
None of the health alerts affected marijuana dispensaries in Central Oregon, he said. The first alert, Oct. 21, stated that about 130 consumers had purchased marijuana at a McMinnville dispensary with higher than the action level, 0.2 parts per million, of the pesticide spinosad.
The second alert, Nov. 3, advised that about 370 consumers bought tainted cannabis at three dispensaries in North Bend, Salem and Eugene. In that case, the Health Authority discovered high levels of spinosad on marijuana in the Eugene dispensary and levels of piperonyl butoxide higher than its action level, 2.0 ppm, at the other two.
The Agriculture Department, which has oversight of pesticides, lists piperonyl butoxide as low risk for use on cannabis. Spinosad is not on that list. The Health Authority tests for spinosad as an illegal pesticide on marijuana, even though it has an action level.
"No lab can certify zero," Farrer said. "What we're testing for is presence or absence, it's there or not there, but there has to be some number associated with it."
The authority is investigating how the tainted marijuana reached the dispensaries from the growers; the Agriculture Department is investigating how the pesticides were applied, according to the health alerts.
"Those things are under investigation and running the normal course of our investigation," said Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the Agriculture Department, on Tuesday. "So, there is no resolution at this point."
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: State Agencies Warn Cannabis Growers
Author: Joseph Ditzler
Contact: 541-382-1811
Photo Credit: Santiago Mejia
Website: The Bulletin
