Unacceptable: Only 7% Of CBD Brands Are Checked For Pesticides, Heavy Metals & Microbes

The CBD dedicated portal, Leafreport, released a new study revealing that only 7% of CBD brands test for pesticides, heavy metals, and microbes, compared to 6% in 2021. 

In this research, the company reviewed 4,384 products from 188 CBD brands to evaluate the state of transparency in the industry. The study also discovered that only 12% of brands had all their products fall within acceptable potency variance levels, and 20% of brands carried out no purity testing on their products at all. 

In comparison with 2021, transparency within the CBD industry appears to be stagnating and deteriorating in several critical respects. 

Key Findings 

• 42% of brands test almost all of their products for potency (90%-100% accurate) and share their third-party lab results with consumers — the same as in 2021.
• 88% of brands that tested their products for potency had at least one product test beyond the 10% variance for potency, in comparison to 84% in 2021.
• 28% of brands didn’t carry out any testing at all for pesticides (such as glyphosate), 26% didn’t test for the presence of any heavy metals (such as arsenic), and 24% didn’t test for microbes (like bacteria).
• Two brands carried out no lab testing at all for either purity or potency, compared to 3 brands in 2021.

"It’s unacceptable that so many CBD companies do not do the most basic tests to ensure that their customers' health is not jeopardized," Gal Shapira, product manager at Leafreport stated. "Leafreport’s mission is to get in front of issues like this so consumers can be conscious of their buying power. Robust third-party testing is something that needs to be a priority for all CBD companies that take transparency and customer safety seriously."

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Photo: Courtesy of Andre Hunter on Unsplash