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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)
Date: Friday, June 3, 2022 at 12:24:09 PM
Author: Alan Hall <oldeddoc**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2022 13:14:59 -0500
Author: Sandra Koster

From: Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2022 17:19:01 +0000
Reply-To: Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Message-ID: 1193947652.429964.1654276741064**At_Symbol_Here**mail.yahoo.com
In-Reply-To


The only question I'd ask would be:  what are the byproducts of low temperature incomplete combustion of paraquat residue on a cigarette?  From something never comes nothing.  Paraquat is C12H14Cl2N2, so even in a 3000 degree muffle furnace with forced oxygen the burn would include carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen oxides and chlorine in some form.  At lower temps, its a lot more complex.

Monona

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Hall <oldeddoc**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Sent: Fri, Jun 3, 2022 12:24 pm
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)

Et al,

Back in the mid-80s when I was still at the Rocky Mountain and Drug Center, we had enquiries because some people (actually LOTS of people) were growing marijuana on government lands and the authorities were killing it off before it could be harvested by spraying fit with paraquat.

Paraquat, when ingested or absorbed in large enough quantities through damaged skin (and in workers in various hot/wet climate countries who sprayed it from backpack sprayers when the paraquat itself damaged the skin) developed severe, usually fatal, progressive pulmonary fibrosis caused by redox reaction and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which became self-perpetuating, even when the paraquat was cleared from the bloodstream.  Administering supplemental oxygen actually accelerated the injury process.

There are no well-documented cases of paraquat poisoning from inhalation exposure.  And from laboratory tests, any paraquat residues left on the marijuana was destroyed by the heat of burning the marijuana cigarette.  Caused quite and outcry and rumpus at the time, but ended up being an urban legend rather than fact.

It's a bit dated, but lots of information on paraquat poisoning can be found in our book:  Bismuth C, Hall AH (eds).  Paraquat Poisoning:  Mechanisms, Prevention, Treatment.  Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1995.

I can't imagine that anyone would be using paraquat (an herbicide) on commercial legal marijuana (hard to get these days anyway).  What other pesticides might be being used, I do not know.

Alan
Alan H. Hall, M.D.
Medical Toxicologist

On Fri, Jun 3, 2022 at 10:18 AM Dan Blunk <000006969d6900fa-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:
Hi Monona,

I believe pesticide residuals in cannabis products would be regulated (or not) by each state that authorizes use of those products. 
Dan

Dan Blunk
Formerly
Env Progs
UCSC

On Jun 3, 2022, at 5:38 AM, Monona Rossol <0000030664c37427-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**lists.princeton.edu> wrote:

Does anyone know if there are regulations in place about residual pesticides in cannabis products?   Monona
6 EMPLOYEES OF LEGAL CANNABIS BUSINESS EVALUATED BY HAZMAT TEAM FOLLOWING OVERNIGHT PESTICIDE SPRAYING
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, ag_chems, pesticides

Six employees of a local legal cannabis business required evaluation by paramedics Tuesday, after their workplace was sprayed with pesticides.

Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics were dispatched to the business in the 300 block of W. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in South Los Angeles at around 8 a.m.

The employees had entered the business Tuesday morning ahead of opening for the day and experienced "brief respiratory irritation" due to the pesticides sprayed overnight, as detailed by Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

None of the six employees sought further medical attention and declined transport to hospitals for examination.

Still, a Hazardous-Materials team was called to the scene to determine the extent of the potential threat, to which they stated that there was no hazard present.



-----Original Message-----
From: Ralph Stuart <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Sent: Fri, Jun 3, 2022 5:56 am
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, June 3, 2022 at 5:56:39 AM



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