{"id":2892,"date":"2021-06-10T10:56:11","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T00:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/is-your-beef-grass-fed-or-weed-fed-industrial-hemp-in-food-chain\/"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:56:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T00:56:11","slug":"is-your-beef-grass-fed-or-weed-fed-industrial-hemp-in-food-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/is-your-beef-grass-fed-or-weed-fed-industrial-hemp-in-food-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your beef \u2018Grass Fed\u2019 or \u2018Weed Fed\u2019? Industrial Hemp in Food Chain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harmless Hemp and Passive Toxicity \u2013 Not New, but a Growing Concern.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Not unsurprisingly, the Cannabis Industry creates many and varied \u2018contaminants\u2019 to the environment, community and humanity itself, but it also creates its very own irony in the contaminant context.<\/span><\/p>\n

As far back as 2015, concerns were being raised about cannabis contaminants, but not in perhaps the way we view it now.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Southern Oregon (USA) marijuana growers wanted to ban industrial hemp<\/a> production from the region out of fear that hemp may pollinate their cannabis crops and render them worthless!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAllowing industrial hemp in an area known for churning out high-grade marijuana could undermine the industry\u201d, growers argue\u2026”It basically makes the medicine worthless,” <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hmmm, isn\u2019t Cannabidiol (CBD) and other Cannabinoids that are supposed to be the \u2018medicine\u2019, not really Delta 9 THC? CBD is seemingly not impacted by Hemp cross-pollination, only the \u2018recreational quality\u2019 product, so why the hysteria? Ah, the cannabis logic is confusing.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The zeal for the addiction for profit sector of the Marijuana market, engendered a paranoia that cross pollination with the all but zero THC content hemp, will weaken and thus render uncommercial their \u2018recreational\u2019 product, which they referred to as \u2018medicine\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, no concerns were being raised back then that the reverse may be true.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a paper published as far back as August 2000 research-based warnings were already being issued about this blurring of the lines with Hemp and other Cannabis strains.  The following excerpt from Cannabis, Hemp, THC in the Food-Cosmetic Supply<\/em><\/strong><\/a> gives some insight,<\/span><\/p>\n

Another unknown is hemp as forage for animals.  According to Stan Blade, a director of crop diversification for Alberta Agriculture, a program that will test hemp over the next year as feed for livestock is being considered in Canada.  Forage hemp will be tested on cattle against a more traditional mixture of oats and barley.  <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Buffalo, the common dairy animal of Pakistan, are allowed to graze on Cannabis sativa (hemp), which, after absorption, is metabolized into a number of psychoactive agents.  These agents are ultimately excreted through the urine and milk, making the milk, used by the people of the region, subject to contamination.  Depending on the amount of milk ingested and the degree of contamination, the milk could result in a low to moderate level of chronic exposure to THC and other metabolites, especially among the children raised on this milk.  Analysis from the urine obtained from children who were being raised on the milk from these animals, indicated that 29% of them had low levels of THC-COOH (THC-carboxylixc acid, which is a major metabolite for THC) in their urine.  This study indicates that the passive consumption of marijuana through milk products is a serious problem in this region where wild marijuana grows unrestricted, and that children are likely to be exposed more than adults.\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The legal requirement for 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (9-THC) content of HEMP is supposed to be 0.3 percent or less, yet from both anecdotal evidence and an ever-decreasing quality control management, one will find it difficult to ensure even basic health and safety issues are monitored, let alone acted upon.<\/span><\/p>\n

One such issue and now after thought, is that the hemp industry has a lot of waste bi-product and finding ways to deal with it, apart from burning it (and all the attending concerns around that) is determining its suitability as fodder.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013 a Washington State pig farmer thought he would experiment<\/a> with his hobby hogs and see if Pot waste would change the flavour<\/em> of his pork products. Thinking as many in the industry do now, that the waste from cannabis grows must be useful, he tried the experiment. Anecdotally, it was a \u2018success\u2019, his retailers declaring it better tasting.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, John P. McNamara, a professor at Washington State University’s Department of Animal Sciences, did not find the experiment amusing, nor should he.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Of all the crazy things I’ve seen in my 37-plus years, this is the dumbest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” McNamara said in order to introduce a drug or medicine to feed, that’s being given to animals that make part of the food supply, the federal government must sign off on it after extensive review. He adds that research has shown that cannabis ingested can be transferhred onto tissues.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What of the pigs? Well, according to the producer, no real difference as \u2018pigs just eat and sleep anyway<\/em>\u2019, though the manager noticed one of the more salty sows was calmer after feeding\u2026Hmmm? Again, all anecdote, no data \u2013 yet that seems to be a key driver for policy making around this increasingly complex and far from benign product.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a pod cast by  Aaron Moskowitz<\/a>, Hemp advocate Hunter Buffington was interviewed on this complex Hemp issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

The interview revealed some of those complexities and the current attempts to  <\/span><\/p>\n

(if not overcome) negate them.  The interview confirmed the real need to ensure not only any feed potential of this substantial and growing bio-waste<\/a>, but also determine any contamination of it<\/em>, or in it<\/em>. The imperative of ensuring that what is \u2018fed into\u2019 the human food chain is safe should not be understated, but it may well be if pro-cannabis advocates are in-charge of the scrutiny process. Any potential toxicity acquired by the growing environment, (i.e. soils, horticultural practices and\/or pesticides) or from the plants own innate compound toxicities, need to be understood and guarded against.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cannabis<\/p>\n

Alongside these stringent safety protocols, clinical feed trials must also be conducted of the by-products being offered as fodder. Each product must be tested against each of the animal breeds it is going to be fed to, ensuring no further harms are done to the animal being fed, or to those further up the food chain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kansas State University are undertaking some studies to that end, with the following outcomes reported in part in the following,<\/span><\/p>\n


While there is interest in the use of hemp for cattle feeds, there are questions about whether the feed can be used safely because of concerns about tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, intoxication and the presence of other bioactive cannabinoids. Kleinhenz noticed that most research was focused on humans, mice and swine, but not on cattle.<\/p>\n

“This is surprising because cattle can readily utilize industrial hemp byproducts as they can digest cellulose plant materials in their rumens,” Kleinhenz said.<\/p>\n

“We observed that the acidic cannabinoids, such as CBDA and THCA, are more readily absorbed from the rumen than other non-acid cannabinoid forms, such as CBD and CBG,” Kleinhenz said. “Now that we have found that some cannabinoids are readily absorbed from the rumen, the next steps are to study the tissue and milk residue udepletion profiles of these compounds after animal feeding experiments. The effects of cannabinoids on cattle are also unknown.”  <\/em>KSU News & Communication Services<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst Kansas State University were conducting their review another long promised study on the use of Hemp crop residue (an environmental concern in its own right) revealed what had been suspected 20 years earlier.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Published in Nature \u2013 Scientific Reports Plasma concentrations of eleven cannabinoids in cattle following oral administration of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) (nih.gov)<\/a>  uncovered the following,<\/span><\/p>\n

From the “Discussion” section,<\/span><\/p>\n