Cannabis QA
The USA's National Institute of Standards (NIST) launched a quality assurance program for testing labs to help improve the accuracy of label claims on cannabis and hemp products. The program is similar to a proficiency test (without the pass/fail grade) and will involve labs testing samples of hemp oil provided by NIST.
Up in Smoke
Researchers used GCxGC-TOFMS to chemically characterize smoke from cannabis "blunts.” They identified two compounds that have never been seen in smoke before - mellein and 2-phenyl-2-oxazoline. Read the paper here.
New FDA Guidance
The US FDA publically released new draft guidance on clinical research. The guidance covers "sources of cannabis for clinical research, information on quality considerations and recommendations regarding calculating THC levels" and is open for comment until September 21, 2020.
CBD Label Claims Fail to Stack Up
In response to a request from US lawmakers, the FDA revealed that they had tested 147 CBD-infused products and found that a substantial proportion were mislabeled – containing more or less CBD than listed or THC at prohibited levels. Plans are afoot for a larger study.
Pre-roll Panic
The LA Weekly reported that California testing lab SC Laboratories had detected worryingly high levels of the pesticide chlorpyrifos in a batch of pre-rolls and had traced the problem to the rolling paper.
After studying biology at Imperial College London, I got my start in biomedical publishing as a commissioning editor for healthcare journals, and I’ve spent my career covering everything from early-stage research to clinical medicine.
