(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that myclobutanil is a known carcinogen.)
A health scare over cannabis containing a banned pesticide has led to more than a million Canadian dollars ($764,703) worth of medical marijuana being destroyed and raised concerns among patients about the extent of tainted MMJ.
Patient worries could potentially cut into Canadian sales of medical cannabis.
Health Canada has targeted two companies for greater product testing. But the government agency is not imposing that requirement on all the nation’s federally licensed MMJ producers.
Canopy Growth said this week it has written off about CA$800,000 in costs because of product recalls. The recalls came after Mettrum, which Canopy Growth recently acquired, was found with a banned pesticide, myclobutanil, in products last year, the Globe and Mail reported. Myclobutanil produces hydrogen cyanide when heated.
Earlier, OrganiGram Holdings was forced to recall MMJ products containing myclobutanil, costing the company nearly CA$500,000.
Health Canada has vowed to start randomly testing products from both Mettrum and OrganiGram in response to the recalls.
However, the Globe and Mail reported that Health Canada is not placing the same restrictions on all 38 companies across the industry, essentially leaving producers in charge of policing themselves.
