SEATTLE – A large mound of fresh soil lies at Terry Taylor’s marijuana farm in the high desert of upstate Washington. Each hole for a new plant is filled with clean soil.
Large strips of recently laid landscaping materials cover the ground, and soon the dirt roads on his property will be covered with gravel to prevent contaminated dust from covering the crops.
Taylor’s marijuana farm is one of several to be restarted according to state regulators ceased operations in April, citing product tests that found unacceptable levels of chemicals linked to DDT, a synthetic pesticide banned half a century ago.
The affected farmers did not use the pesticide themselves, but they are on an 8-kilometer stretch of former orchards along the Okanogan River where it has been heavily applied and remains in the soil.
The Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board announced last week that it had lifted restrictions on the companies, which are now taking action with government funding to keep pesticide residues in check and rebuild their brands. The board said it would step up pesticide testing for cannabis from the region.
“I haven’t sold any product since April,” said Taylor, who operates two licensed cannabis growers and processors, Okanogan Gold and Kibble Junction. “It just destroyed us. Nobody wants to buy it.”
Taylor, 58, said he has been living on savings since April. His income is about a tenth of his previous income. He normally has about six full-time employees and 20 seasonal workers, now it’s down to two.
Pesticides in cannabis are a concern of regulators and consumers in legal marijuana states across the country, particularly because the plant is typically smoked or concentrated, a process that can increase pesticide levels in the final product.
regulators in Vermont earlier this year Pulled pot contaminated with pesticides from five retail stores after a customer reported feeling ill, and Nevada officials issued a notice about commonly available products that may be contaminated with an unauthorized pesticide.
Due to marijuana’s illegal status under federal law, states have created their own rules for pesticides in cannabis. There are big differences in what substances are regulated and how much traces can remain in products. It’s unclear how many states require cannabis to be tested for legacy pesticides like DDT.
Washington State’s recent experience with DDE, a chemical residue left in the soil when DDT is broken down, suggests that such regulations are only partially effective in protecting public health.
A Liquor and Cannabis Board chemist noted several high test results for DDE in March and traced them to a single growing area. The companies — Okanogan Gold, Bodie Mine, Kibble Junction, and Walden Cannabis — immediately issued recalls upon request in April, but by that time many of the products had already been sold.
108 samples were tested by the companies and 59 came back with unapproved DDE levels, the board said.
DDT was widely used in the decades following World War II to control mosquitoes and insects that can damage fruit or other crops, but it also killed birds. Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, documented its impact on nature, which sparked the environmental movement and contributed to a nationwide ban on the use of DDT in agriculture in 1972.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studies have shown that women with high levels of DDE in their blood are more likely to have a premature baby or a baby with wheezing. The chemical is considered a possible carcinogen.
Christopher Simpson, associate director of the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center at the University of Washington, said the risk of DDE in cannabis is likely low, although it may pose a greater concern for anyone who uses marijuana medicinally, as it may already healthy is topics.
“To my knowledge, nobody has done a really good risk assessment for this,” Simpson said. “You would need to be able to figure out how much cannabis people would consume and how much of that DDT would be deposited in the body. There is simply no experimental data available.”
Many of the problematic cannabis leaf or oil samples were tested at about 0.2 parts per million, which is above the 0.1 ppm limit set by state law, but still only about half of what federal agencies say it is for DDT contamination tolerate in tobacco. A sample of cannabis oil or resin returned a value of 1.7 ppm, the agency said.
Given the lack of scientific evidence on what constitutes dangerous levels of DDE in cannabis, Taylor and other concerned growers argued that regulators overreacted by shutting down operations rather than just ordering recalls.
Chandra Wax, head of the body’s enforcement and investigations arm, said in a statement that regulators acted “responsibly, swiftly and intentionally”.
“We recognize the significant impact this has had on licensees and the risk it poses to the public,” Wax said.
It is not clear how the DDE got into the products. Known for its ability to remove pollutants from soil, cannabis has been studied for use in environmental remediation. Taylor said he suspects the contamination most likely came from dust deposited on the crops as he and others drove or walked around the farm, or even from DDT present in smoke from wildfires in the area.
In response to the tests, Washington lawmakers this spring allocated $200,000 to help growers clean up the soil and $5 million to study how marijuana plants absorb toxins, how much of it transfers to cannabis products and the potential costs of growing plants in pots or pots Thoroughly clean the soil in the area.
“You obviously want a safe product and you don’t want people to get sick,” said Republican Rep. Joel Kretz, who represents the region. “I hope we can get this under control without putting a bunch of farmers out of business.”
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