Black market vapes contained 'high levels' of pesticides: laboratory
CannaSafe, an accredited California cannabis testing laboratory, says it tested more than 100 black market vaping devices and found "high levels" of pesticides in all of them.
Around 90 percent of the devices tested contained vitamin E acetate, and all were mislabeled, CannaSafe CEO Aaron Riley told FOX Business' Stuart Varney.
None of the legal vaping devices tested by CannaSafe contained pesticides or vitamin E acetate, he said.
“The results were shocking, to say the least,” Riley said Tuesday.
According to Riley, the most dangerous chemical found in the vaping devices was myclobutanil, the active ingredient in Eagle 20, a pesticide that is frequently used to prevent the growth of powdery mildew in plants such as grapes. Although it’s considered to be safe to use on certain crops, it becomes dangerous when used in cannabis products.
"When you combust that pesticide it turns into hydrogen cyanide," said Riley. "It's not something that I would want to consume and I wouldn't recommend it to any other consumers."
Hydrogen cyanide has a “bitter almond odor” that is sometimes undetectable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and can be “rapidly fatal” within minutes. The CDC is investigating at least 19 vaping-related deaths across the country.
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Comparatively, they also tested more than 100 products from licensed brands and found none of them contained any of the dangerous chemicals.
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Roughly 80 million people live in states with legalized recreational marijuana. Currently 10 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized pot for recreational use, while 32 states plus Washington D.C. have legalized it for medicinal purposes. In Maine, legalization is slated for spring of 2020.