New Hemp Reference Material from NIST to Ensure Ac
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Earlier this week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that it was selling reference material on hemp that would assist labs in correctly measuring components in products made from the cannabis plant. The reference material was made from commercially purchased dried hemp, which the researchers ground, sieved, blended and measured to a high degree of precision and accuracy. Each unit includes three packets with 1.5 grams of ground hemp.
This material will also help agencies of law enforcement accurately differentiate between marijuana and hemp, given that both come from the cannabis plant.
Prior to the legalization of hemp through the 2018 Farm Bill, all cannabis plant products and material were classified as controlled substances under federal law. Under the farm bill, hemp is defined as any cannabis material with a THC level of no more than 0.3%. This means that cannabis with any higher THC amount is considered marijuana.
In addition, this reference material will help regulatory agencies and manufacturers make sure all cannabis products are properly labelled as well as safe. This comes after one study carried out by NIST investigators determined that THC measurements printed on product labels aren’t always reliable.
The material, titled the NIST Hemp Plant Reference Material, contains an information sheet that lists the exact amounts of total CBD, THC and other elements that may be found in agricultural products, together with uncertainty estimates for each.
Laboratories are advised to analyze some of this material to ensure that their measurement techniques are accurate. If their figures match with NIST’s figures to an accepted margin of error, then all is good. However, if the figures don’t match, labs will need to fine tune their instruments and adjust their measurement techniques.
The reference material also includes measurements for toxic elements such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury, among others, that agricultural products normally are tested for.
Dr. Colleen Bryan, a biologist at NIST, stated that this material would help ensure that the marijuana individuals bought for medical reasons didn’t contain unsafe levels of toxic elements.
In addition, the reference material contains moisture content measurements. This is crucial because it assists laboratories in reporting levels of substances such as THC on a dry-weight basis. Furthermore, the material will also assist investigators conducting research on the health and effects of cannabis to measure dosages used for research accurately. This will, in turn, allow investigators to compare findings from different studies with little difficulty.
The cannabis industry, including entities such as Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ), are likely to welcome these efforts being undertaken to foster some degree of standardization in the way testing labs assess the samples sent to them.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Software Effective Solutions Corp. (d/b/a MedCana) (OTC: SFWJ) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/SFWJ
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