4 Colorado Extracts Companies Pass Pesticide Test, One Fails

Several extracts manufacturers passed a pesticide test commissioned recently by The Denver Post, but one company’s products reportedly contained controversial – and possibly toxic – substances.

Mahatma Concentrates, a Denver-based extracts company, was found to be selling products that contain three pesticides the state has prohibited from use on commercial marijuana.

Mahatma purchased the tainted cannabis from a separate grower, Treatments Unlimited, which also runs the Altitude chain of rec stores, according to the Post. One of those shops was among several stores forced to quarantine thousands of plants in February and March by the city due to pesticide concerns.

According to the Post’s findings, one of the pesticide levels in a Mahatma sample tested had “six times the maximum amount allowed by the federal government on any food product – and 1,800 times the highest level Denver accepted when it quarantined marijuana plants earlier this year.”

The pesticides in question were myclobutanil, imidacloprid and avermectin.

The Post’s findings indicate “a significant public health concern,” a city official told the paper. And the city has publicly contemplated issuing a product recall in the past at least once over the possible overuse of pesticides in cannabis products.

The other four extract companies the Post tested – The Lab, TR Scientific, Bolder Extracts and Happy Camper Concentrates Co. – “showed no unapproved pesticides.”

The lab the Post used, Gobi Analytical, said that “maybe 10%” of cannabis submitted for pesticide testing passed since the company began such tests in April.