* Pie Chart: Most Common Pesticide Testing Failures as reported by Confidence AnalyticsTM
AND THE VOTES ARE IN
Spring brings pivotal change to the Washington State 502 Industry. It has been years in the making… lots of talk, discussion and chatter among the industry and the government. And here we are: Pesticides! Pesticide Testing, more specifically.
It is now crunch time. On March 2nd, the board made the final decision to implement required pesticide testing for end use cannabis products. The rules will go into effect April 2nd.
SO, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE 502 INDUSTRY?
Our own Nick Mosely has prepared a white paper outlining what may be coming with the enacted rules. “Pesticide Testing in Washington – A White Paper” is a balanced and direct assessment of the potential impacts to the industry, including growers, processors, and retailers. Each sector has a different vulnerability and opportunity in addressing the potential rules. The White Paper outlines some of the challenges the law would create and provides some suggestions to address them.
For instance, the new rules say that products that fail for pesticides would NOT be eligible for remediation. In preparation for this change, it may be helpful for the industry to adopt early pesticide testing of cannabis materials. Additionally, now may be the time to evaluate your testing providers. Have you discussed with your cannabis lab if they have necessary instrumentation, technical ability, and capacity to perform the new required tests? Without prior vetting, and planning, there may be bottlenecks in the supply chain due to laboratory unpreparedness. All industry sectors should ask questions, review the rules, understand what may be required, and get prepared.
CONFIDENCE ANALYTICS WILL BE PREPARED.
For the last 6 years, Confidence has been providing pesticide testing services to the I-502 community of businesses, co-ops, and patients. We are actively engaged in increasing and expanding our pesticide testing capability in anticipation of this rule enactment. We encourage you to reach out with questions on how we can help your business.
* Pie Chart: Most Common Pesticide Failures as tested by Confidence Analytics. Data represent 452 pesticide detections that were quantified above the fail limit between January 2021 and October 2021. Data include samples of plant material and concentrates.
- During the same period of time, there were a total of 3,122 pesticide detections below the fail limit (detected, but pass). Those detections are not represented in the chart, because they pass.
- Detections below the fail limit occur 3x more frequently in concentrates compared to plant material. Detections above the fail limit occur 5x more frequently in concentrates compared to plant material.
- 15% of plant material samples have detections below the fail limit. If that plant material is concentrated, it can result in the concentrate failing.
Read more on our white paper: