Fresh clean organically grown pesticide free cannabis is in demand
and certainly should be obtained from certified California marijuana
businesses, but what about that mom and pop grow? Or the under the radar
non organic cultivation where pesticides are used unsafe for food use
that never wash off or fertilizers that never flush out ? Especially in Medicinal cannabis?
Determination of Pesticide Residues in Cannabis Smoke
Three different pesticides, bifenthrin, diazinon, and permethrin, along with the plant growth regulator paclobutrazol, which are readily available to cultivators in commercial products, were investigated in the experiment. Smoke generated from the smoking devices was condensed in tandem chilled gas traps and analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Recoveries of residues were as high as 69.5% depending on the device used and the component investigated, suggesting that the potential of pesticide and chemical residue exposures to cannabis users is substantial and may pose a significant toxicological threat in the absence of adequate regulatory frameworks."
The article in the Journal of Toxicology continues...
"To date, there are no approved pesticides or application limits established for use on cannabis crops by the US EPA; therefore, all pesticide use on this crop is currently illegal [3]. The use of pesticides and plant growth regulators in medicinal cannabis cultivation has been found to be quite prevalent by both testing laboratories and authority laboratories alike.
Many commercially available pesticide containing products or nutrient systems, some only approved for use on ornamental crops, are widely available from a variety of sources including hardware stores, specialty indoor hydroponic shops, and various, sometimes unscrupulous, online vendors."
Two commonly used compounds include myclobutanil, a fungicide sold under the trade name “Eagle 20.” It’s been found to have negative reproductive effects on test animals. Imidacloprid, a neurotoxin that is especially harmful to bees and other pollinators, has been blamed for eye irritation, dizziness, and vomiting among farm workers applying it to food crops.
And what happens to pesticide residues when they are smoked? What chemical changes take place and what health effects will the resulting toxins and off gases have?
It’s known that myclobutanil, when heated, releases hydrogen cyanide, a gas so toxic it’s been used in chemical warfare; not something smokers want to be inhaling.
Mostly, toxicologists are still hazy with what happens to the active ingredients in pesticides when they’re set ablaze. No one’s testing for that !
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