Marijuana Testing
By Michael Backes
CityWatch
Vol 7 Issue 86
Pub: Oct 20, 2009
LA City Attorney, Mr. Carmen Trutanich, has been all over the media trying
to convince Los Angeles that a pesticide used to kill Mexican fire ants is
evidence that medical cannabis provided by dispensaries is poisonous and
supporting Mexican drug cartels.
According to Mr. Trutanich, three samples of medical marijuana from
"controlled buys" by undercover LAPD were tested by an FDA laboratory. On
these samples, Mr Trutanich said the lab found high concentrations of an
insecticide uncommon in California that is used to kill fire ants in Mexico.
Trutanich claims this Mexican fire ant insecticide is evidence that LA
medical cannabis is being supplied by the Mexican drug cartels.
Except... There are no Mexican fire ants. There is the notorious red
imported fire ant - solenopsis invicta - but that's from Brazil, not Mexico.
Those fire ants were accidentally imported into the US in the 1930's then
spread across the southern United States. Fire ants were never found in
Mexico, until they crossed the Texas border into northern Mexico a few years
back. The range of fire ants has not extended deeply into Mexico.
Pesticide testing is not a trivial exercise. It requires very sensitive
machines that are capable of detecting just a few molecules. The FDA
certainly has these machines, but were the samples provided by Mr. Trutanich
sufficient?
Pesticide testing requires a large plant sample to produce precise results.
EMA, one of the largest testing labs in California, requires a minimum 200
gram sample. No marijuana dispensary in LA sells cannabis in 200 gram
lots. It's more likely that Mr Trutanich would have had much smaller
samples tested, with a much higher risk of error in the testing.
There are no pesticide residue tolerances established for cannabis by the
EPA, the FDA or The California Department of Pesticide Regulation. It takes
careful research to establish these tolerances on a pesticide-by-pesticide
basis, but that work has not been done. This research is important, because
the acceptable ranges vary by plant species.
The insecticide that Mr Trutanich claims was found on his samples of
cannabis was bifenthrin. Bifenthrin belongs to a common class of
insecticides called pyrethroids.
Mr Trutanich claims that California restricts the use of bifenthrin because
of its toxicity to humans. Mr. Trutanich is incorrect.
California restricts the use of bifenthrin because of its high toxicity to
fish, not mammals or humans. And, according to the California Department of
Pesticide Regulation, California farmers used 107,000 pounds of bifenthrin
on their crops in 2007. They used it on corn, almonds, strawberries, even
wine grapes. Fifty tons of it.
Mr. Trutanich stated to FOX NEWS, "it's not enough to say conclusively that
this dope is coming from here (Mexico), okay. but? but, you know, if it
quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, you know, chances are that if you
look a little closer, you may be dealing with a duck."
Well... if it makes scientific claims like a duck, it might just be the LA
City Attorney.
California cannabis patients should be protected from contaminants in their
medicine.
That protection comes from intelligent regulations, something that the City
Attorney's office has been stalling for two years.
Perhaps it's time we stopped wasting tax money planning to raid medical
marijuana facilities and start regulating them.
(Michael Backes - board member, Cornerstone Research Collective, a
California nonprofit corporation, Eagle Rock.)
http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/2816/