Canadian scientists have made a discovery involving THC concentrates. Dangerous metal nanoparticles that could cause numerous health problems have been found in cannabis oil cartridges like the ones often sold in dispensaries. The discovery indicates that there may be previously unidentified risks associated with vaping some types cannabis oil.
Unlike smoking cannabis flower, vaping cannabis oil doesn’t involve actual combustion. Instead of a flame, a heating element is used to vaporize the oil, meaning no smoke is ever inhaled. Because of this, many fans of vape cartridges and wax rigs claim that it’s a healthier alternative to smoking weed, which produces tar.
But according to new research presented at the recent spring meeting of the American Chemical Society and published in the journal ACS Omega, nanoparticles of metals like lead cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel and vanadium were found in cannabis oil samples taken from both regulated and illicit sources.
Numerous studies have concluded these nanoparticles pose a serious health hazard to users. They are highly toxic and have been known to cause diseases in the liver, lungs, bloodstream and even the central nervous system.
The issue is one of size. The small size of the nanoparticles allows them to penetrate deeper into the body following inhalation. Nanoparticles are also known to exhibit different properties compared to larger particles of the same material, making them unpredictable as well.
The study came from a collaboration between Health Canada and the National Research Council of Canada’s Metrology Research Centre (MRC). The research team was headed by Andrew Waye of the Health Canada Office of Cannabis Science and Surveillance.
The team collected and analyzed 41 samples of cannabis oil products. Twenty of the samples came from legal sources while the rest were illicit products sourced from Ontario police. While samples from both sources were found to be contaminated with toxic metals, the illicit samples had much higher concentrations of the substances.
Some of the samples were found to have more than 100 times the amount of toxic metals allowed by the Canadian government.
The study found the contaminants in unused products that were less than six months old, suggesting, researchers said, that the contaminants are a result of the vessel, even before it’s heated.
“The evidence strongly suggests that metal contamination can come from the device when it’s produced, and not from the heating of the coils,” Zuzana Gajdosechova, a scientist at the MRC of the National Research Council of Canada said in a news release. “But depending on the quality of the device, the contamination may be increased by that heating.”