Study: 70% of the best-selling CBD products in the USA contaminated with heavy metals and pesticides

In a survey Recently, the laboratories Ellipse Analytics tested the 240 best-selling CBD products—both online and at retailers outside of dispensaries—in the United States. They tested for the presence of more than 300 contaminants and verified the accuracy of the labels regarding CBD content. The results are clear: 70% of these products contain significant levels of heavy metals, pesticides, toxic mold, and other substances hazardous to human health.

Alarming test results

The tests indicate that 70% of the products are «heavily contaminated.» Among other substances, they contain lead, arsenic, glyphosate, and bisphenol A. In one product in particular, the tests revealed lead levels 100 times higher than the threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. The company that manufactures it, Ananda Hemp, protested these results.

Jason Cranford, a cannabis grower from Colorado, explains: «Overseas, they use hemp as a cover crop. They use it specifically to absorb pesticides and heavy metals from their soil so they can replant food crops afterward. These hemp crops are then imported into the United States, and people use them to make CBD. What’s really scary is that when there are these kinds of contaminants in the plant material and you turn it into oil, you concentrate them.».

The United States have legalized hemp this year paving the way for domestic cultivation of the plant. Previously, the country imported all of its hemp. The vast majority of the imported hemp came from China which is the world's leading producer of hemp. Currently, about 70% of U.S. hemp is still imported from China. This trade dependency was precisely what spurred its legalization in the United States.

An Industry in Need of Regulation

«We have an industry with a widespread quality control problem,» explains Dr. Sean Callan, director of research for Ellipse Analytics. « »Compared to other products [other than CBD] that we tested, we found very high levels of pesticides and very high levels of heavy metals.".

In addition to these toxic substances, the research team found that the CBD content rarely matched the levels listed on the labels. «There are several products whose labels claimed they contained CBD, but in which we found no CBD at all. On the other end of the spectrum, there are products that had five or six times the CBD content they claimed to have,» Callan explains. «They [the producers] are required by federal law to test THC levels, but there are no regulations requiring them to test CBD levels.».

This isn't the first study to highlight these kinds of issues. The problem with misleading labels had already been raised by the Spanish Medical Cannabis Observatory in a study that showed that two-thirds of the CBD oils tested did not contain the CBD concentration listed on their labels. As for the chemical components, a study by Virginia Commonwealth University had even detected the presence of the molecule 5F-ADB, a compound found in so-called «synthetic» cannabis» found on the street (K2, Spice), in CBD e-liquid.

Cases of poisoning following the ingestion of contaminated CBD products have been reported numerous times, particularly in the United States—although these problems are not limited to the United States. The CBD boom has attracted all kinds of opportunists who do not necessarily prioritize consumer protection. Furthermore, the lack of regulation prevents consumers from separating the wheat from the chaff and exposes them to contaminated products. The U.S. CBD market is estimated at $22 million in 2022.