Heavy Metals Panel

Hemp is a bioaccumulator. The plant pulls what is in the soil, irrigation water, and fertilizer up through its roots and concentrates it in the plant. That is why the panel exists: a field with a contaminated history, or a bad input, can show up in the finished extract even when the farm did everything else right. Extraction can also concentrate whatever the plant carried. So the test is run on the finished lot, not once on the farm.

The four metals are lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. There is no single federal limit for hemp products, and states differ, with some adding more metals and some setting none. One common yardstick for oral products is the set Canada's federal cannabis regulator accepts, which derives from USP <232>: lead 0.5 ppm, arsenic 0.2 ppm, cadmium 0.2 ppm, mercury 0.1 ppm (GrowerIQ summary, checked October 2026). Labs usually run these by ICP-MS. A result under the limit passes. A result over it fails the lot.

To read one, find the heavy metals section of the COA and look for four things: all four metals listed, a measured value or ND (not detected) beside each rather than a bare "Pass", the limit it was judged against, and an accredited lab, ideally ISO 17025. ND only means something if the lab also states its limit of quantitation. The batch number and test date should match the bottle in your hand. We publish batch reports at /coas, and we do not have a panel to show you for a batch we have not tested.