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OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Commercial Cannabis Laboratories, Inc. (ACCL) released a statement today offering information on the continuing concern of pesticide contamination on Cannabis.

ACCL members in several states have detected high levels of various cultivating agents that are being used to combat numerous types of fungal and insect based assaults during cultivation.  As member laboratories continue to advance their technical sophistication using state-of-the art mass spectrometry-based approaches, we have broadened the ability to detect more of these cultivating agents and have come to understand that this problem is larger and more complex than anyone initially suspected.

While challenging to detail an accurate picture in the face of complex and continuously evolving laws and regulations around cannabis cultivation practices, collectively our most recent assessment of the prevalence of pesticides and fungicides shows that around 50% or more of the commercially available flowers and concentrates may contain concerning levels of these types of harmful chemical residues.

"It is the most important quality issue regarding medical and adult use Cannabis today," says Dr. Robert Martin, ACCL Executive Director. "Pesticide residues are not known to breakdown by heat of process or by biodegradation and remain toxic in the plant or soil for lengthy periods of time."

Fully recognizing this concern and aiming to best protect all cannabis consumers, especially those who are immunocompromised or seeking therapeutic and therefore consistent and constant uses of cannabis, ACCL members are uniting nationwide to collaborate on establishing cultivating agent testing standards and methods that will offer informed scientific leadership to the rapidly evolving cannabis industry.

Dr. Jeffrey C. Raber, ACCL President, states, "Cultivating agent contamination is a huge concern for cannabis. Collectively the broad based and accurately informed perspective of ACCL member organizations lends to a unique collective intelligence that is best capable of solving this important problem. By coming together to share our experiences and insights we believe we can arrive at an effective and viable solution to this problem that will most quickly allow for the introduction of responsible regulations and laws to best protect all cannabis consumers."

All ACCL member organizations strongly believe in being part of a responsible, well-regulated and clean supply chain for the cannabis industry and are fully committed to actively contributing considerable amounts of time and effort to provide technical solutions to the detection and eventual eradication of this contamination concern.

The ACCL is a non-profit organization working towards improving testing laboratory standards for the cannabis industry. For more information, contact Dr. Robert Martin, ACCL CEO at robert@cwanalytical.com or Dr. Jeffrey C. Raber, ACCL President at jeff@thewercshop.com.

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SOURCE Association of Commercial Cannabis Laboratories