Administrative hold placed on harvests

Two facilities have received notice from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to hold product after a cultivation licensee failed testing for heavy metals.

The Section for Medical Marijuana Regulation advised that the cultivator’s harvest was placed on administrative hold after test results identified cadmium.

A department representative told Greenway, “We are working with the 2 facilities right now on next steps. Our investigation is ongoing.”

The name of the cultivator and the other facilities have not been disclosed at this time.

Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. A soft, silvery-white metal, chemically similar to zinc and mercury, commonly appears in natural soil and some fertilizers.

When ingested only a small amount of cadmium remains in the body after eating food contaminated with cadmium. However, when consumed over a long period of time, cadmium can build up in the body, toxicity leads to kidney disease, and can cause bones to weaken. In large enough amounts, cadmium will damage the kidney, liver, and heart and may cause death.

More concerning, and more common in cases related to cannabis, cadmium toxicity can occur when a person inhales high levels of cadmium.

It is possible to remediate heavy metals, such as cadmium, from a harvest, through some extraction processes.