Hemp CBD product sales continue to soar, yet with the CBD hemp market still being relatively new, you’ll need to search forpet hemp CBD products that you can trust, and that are safe for your furry best friend.
Let us give you a bunch of reasons about the importance of purchasing pet CBD products from reputable pet CBD brands that are trusted, and that are based out of the US. Here are a few:
- Plant growing conditions will vary and you’ll need to keep in mind that soil contaminants, pesticides, molds, and heavy metals could be present in your final CBD pet product if it’s of a low-quality.
- Extractions may not have been done properly leaving behind toxic solvent residuals that may be dangerous to your pooch.
- Then there’s always inaccurate labelling of plenty of CBD products which could involve over or under-reporting the cannabidiol content within a product.
There’s still no national regulation for product testing today, and labels together with safety need to be explored. Pet parents should only purchase well-recognized CBD pet brands for their furry best friends.
Today, with hundreds of different CBD pet products sold online, you have to know what to look for on product labels or the ingredient list, so that you can evaluate the safety of the product, and make sure that you’re not endangering your pooch.
TheFDA’s report to Congress on the CBD marketplace underscores a trend of mislabeled products and a growing need for industry regulations addsHemp Grower. They also explain that the FDA found that after testing 147 products, the FDA found nearly half contained levels of THC above the limit of quantitation, which was 3.1 mg per serving.
Hemp Grower explains that “The FDA’s report is a response to an order from Congress’ to study the current CBD marketplace “to determine the extent to which products are mislabeled or adulterated.”
Its latest findings highlight the agency’s initiative to undertake a “more extensive CBD product sampling effort,” the report says.
In its study, the FDA tested 147 products for 11 different cannabinoids, including CBD and total tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels.
Of the 102 products that indicated a specific amount of CBD, the FDA found:
- 18 products (18%) contained less than 80% of the amount of CBD indicated.
- 46 products (45%) contained within 20% of the amount of CBD indicated.
- 38 products (37%) contained more than 120% of the amount of CBD indicated.
The take here according to Joe Cascone, president of Asterra Labs, a CBD product manufacturing company is that “The number of products that appear to be on the market that are inconsistent with their labeling is disturbing.” “The report mentions that several of the tested products did not contain what was on the label and that some were within 20% of the label claim. A 20% variance is unacceptable.” Cascone adds via Hemp Grower. “ Guidelines from theU.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), a pharmaceutical regulation non-profit organization, state pharmaceutical products should contain within 10% of what’s stated on the label.
Hemp Grower also explains that “The FDA also tested 133 of those 147 products for levels of arsenic, cadmium, mercury and lead. Only one product—a tincture—had a lead concentration that requires additional evaluation. The rest had contaminant levels that don’t represent a health concern, the FDA says in its report. (The FDA notes that the 133 products sampled cannot be used to draw definitive conclusions.)”
Hemp Grower adds that The Minnesota Hemp Farmers and Manufacturers Association (MHFMA) tested an array of CBD products, including vape pens, edibles, tinctures, hemp flowers, topical lotions, pills, capsules and more. Of the 25 products tested, 16 had greater than a 20% deviation of CBD content from what the label stated, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) classifies as “misbranded.” “Some products contained nearly three times the stated amount, while one of the products had no CBD at all, says Matthew Kaiser, program director of MHFMA viaHemp Grower.
Additionally, 33% of the products tested positive for pesticides or heavy metals.
“I had become increasingly frustrated with the amount of focus placed on hemp farmers to test for THC compliance, while absolutely no attention was being paid to the unregulated retail market,” Kaiser says in a news release via Hemp Grower. “While many consumers have fears of unintentional consumption of THC, the real and more concerning problem to public health is the potential for contamination by heavy metals, pesticides, microbials, molds and toxins. Until we have FDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] regulation on these products, manufacturers are given little guidance as to how to label their products and can put whatever they want in them without testing for these dangers to public health.”
A Pennstudy in 2017, also demonstrated that nearly 70% of cannabidiol products sold online were mislabeled.
Penn adds “For a month, Bonn-Miller and his team of researchers conducted internet searches to identify and purchase CBD products available for online retail purchase that included CBD content on the packaging. The team purchased and analyzed 84 products from 31 different companies and found that more than 42 percent of products were under-labeled, meaning that the product contained a higher concentration of CBD than indicated. Another 26 percent of products purchased were over-labeled, meaning the product contained a lower concentration of CBD than indicated. Only 30 percent of CBD products purchased contained an actual CBD content that was within 10% of the amount listed on the product label. While studies have not shown that too much CBD can be harmful, products containing either too little or too much CBD than labeled could negate potential clinical benefit to patients. Further, the variability across products may make it troublesome for patients to get a reliable effect.”
Bonn-Miller via the Penn study conclude that“The biggest implication is that many of these patients may not be getting the proper dosage; they’re either not getting enough for it to be effective or they’re getting too much.” Similar discrepancies were found in CBD edibles.