Per Congressional mandate, the FDA has submitted a report to Congress on the state of the CBD marketplace.
The report outlines studies the agency has performed on the contents and quality of cannabis-derived products that it has tested over the past six years. As predicted in my testimony at the FDA’s June 2019 Part 15 hearing, there is significant inconsistencies between cannabinoids concentrations that are listed on labels and what the products actually contain. Some relevant verbatims from the FDA report:
“FDA recognizes the significant public interest in CBD products,” the agency wrote. “However, there are many questions about the characteristics of currently marketed CBD products because the Agency lacks significant information on what CBD-containing products are on the market and there are little data available on those products themselves.”
“FDA believes that understanding the characteristics of marketed CBD products is critical to making informed decisions about how best to protect public health in the current marketplace."
“Of the 102 products that indicated a specific amount of CBD, 18 products (18%) contained less than 80 percent of the amount of CBD indicated, 46 products (45 percent) contained CBD within 20 percent of the amount indicated, and 38 products (37 percent) contained more than 120 percent of the amount of CBD indicated.”
Only one of 133 samples had potentially hazardous materials.
Well – that’s reassuring.
FDA is undertaking a more extensive CBD product testing effort that will involve using “a sampling methodology to create a representative, random sample of the current CBD product marketplace.”
“The Agency is purchasing data on brands, product categories, and distribution channels for CBD products.” The FDA is also “in the process of developing its own comprehensive list of brands operating in the CBD market space by assembling data from targeted internet searches and analytics. FDA intends to leverage both data sets to randomly sample products across brands, product categories, and distribution channels, while favoring products with a higher market share.”
The sampling is expected to cover cannabis tinctures, oils, extracts, capsules, powders, waters and other beverages, food items, cosmetics, personal lubricants, tampons, vape cartridges and products sold for pets.
It is unlikely the FDA’s bark will be worse than its bite.
Per the FDA, “Together, this information will provide the Agency with a better understanding of product characteristics in the current CBD marketplace and will help protect and promote public health.”
The report outlines studies the agency has performed on the contents and quality of cannabis-derived products that it has tested over the past six years. As predicted in my testimony at the FDA’s June 2019 Part 15 hearing, there is significant inconsistencies between cannabinoids concentrations that are listed on labels and what the products actually contain. Some relevant verbatims from the FDA report:
“FDA recognizes the significant public interest in CBD products,” the agency wrote. “However, there are many questions about the characteristics of currently marketed CBD products because the Agency lacks significant information on what CBD-containing products are on the market and there are little data available on those products themselves.”
“FDA believes that understanding the characteristics of marketed CBD products is critical to making informed decisions about how best to protect public health in the current marketplace."
“Of the 102 products that indicated a specific amount of CBD, 18 products (18%) contained less than 80 percent of the amount of CBD indicated, 46 products (45 percent) contained CBD within 20 percent of the amount indicated, and 38 products (37 percent) contained more than 120 percent of the amount of CBD indicated.”
Only one of 133 samples had potentially hazardous materials.
Well – that’s reassuring.
FDA is undertaking a more extensive CBD product testing effort that will involve using “a sampling methodology to create a representative, random sample of the current CBD product marketplace.”
“The Agency is purchasing data on brands, product categories, and distribution channels for CBD products.” The FDA is also “in the process of developing its own comprehensive list of brands operating in the CBD market space by assembling data from targeted internet searches and analytics. FDA intends to leverage both data sets to randomly sample products across brands, product categories, and distribution channels, while favoring products with a higher market share.”
The sampling is expected to cover cannabis tinctures, oils, extracts, capsules, powders, waters and other beverages, food items, cosmetics, personal lubricants, tampons, vape cartridges and products sold for pets.
It is unlikely the FDA’s bark will be worse than its bite.
Per the FDA, “Together, this information will provide the Agency with a better understanding of product characteristics in the current CBD marketplace and will help protect and promote public health.”
