Heavy Metals
Cannabis, and industrial hemp in particular, is often used to help decontaminate polluted soil. It’s so effective at up-taking and withstanding heavy metals, it has been used for phytoremediation in Chernobyl, the site of a nuclear power plant meltdown.
Above regulatory limits, these metals—arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and others—can cause health problems such as cancer and heart disease. These elements exist in trace amounts throughout all agriculture. With the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, the abundance of these metals may increase in the soil and water. Due to the cannabis plant’s affinity for absorbing metals from soil, air, and water, it's essential that every harvest batch undergoes heavy metals testing.
It's also important to note that the extraction process may raise levels of these elements in the final product. Even if the flower used for the extraction process had been tested and approved, the extract can still have levels of heavy metals higher than acceptable limits.
Essential metals such as copper, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc are beneficial for plant and human health at the right levels. Micronutrient levels can be used to monitor the health of the plant throughout the course of development.
Toxic Metals
Arsenic is a well known poison and carcinogen, linked to cause various forms of cancer.
Cadmium, a byproduct of zinc, is shown to cause kidney damage, cancer, and bone fractures.
Lead is known to cause fatal health problems and developmental delays.
Mercury, a byproduct of burning coal, can cause cause severe neurological damage.
These metals and others can cause serious health effects if ingested. Strict limits are set on these toxic metals to ensure consumer safety.
Essential Metals
Other metals, such as copper, iron, manganese, nickel, and zinc, play a beneficial role in plant growth and development. At the right level, these elements improve the plant's nutritional level, growth, and yield. These metals are also beneficial to humans if taken in low doses.
Our Metals Panel
We test for heavy and essential metals using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). We test for antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium and zinc.
