CBD is a product that comes from hemp, and hemp is a unique plant in that it expresses the characteristics of the soil in which it is grown. One of the ways in which hemp expresses soil characteristics is by drawing undesirable compounds out of the soil. If hemp is grown with pesticides or fungicides, you’ll find those chemicals in the hemp. Hemp draws radioactivity out of soil; that’s why people have planted hemp around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The hope is that, over the course of many years, the hemp might help to remediate the soil more quickly.
Hemp can also draw heavy metals from soil, and that capability is what concerns us today because the world’s top hemp grower also has some of the world’s worst heavy metal soil contamination. When that hemp goes through the processing necessary for CBD extraction, those heavy metals could conceivably be present in the final product. That’s a major concern for you if you want to avoid ingesting substances like lead, cadmium and arsenic – as, obviously, everyone does.
Before you buy any CBD oil or other CBD product, you should always know where the hemp for that CBD is grown. Higher-end CBD companies like VSAVI are willing to pay a bit more for hemp grown in the United States because the quality of the hemp is extremely important to them.
You’re about to learn why.
China Is the World’s Top Hemp Grower
Industrial hemp comes from all over the world. Most of it comes from just one nation, though, and that nation is China. Chinese farmers grow 70 percent of the world’s hemp supply, and that hemp is used for an enormous variety of products including textiles, building materials, animal bedding, biodiesel, hemp seeds and – of course – CBD. A massive quantity of CBD is coming out of China, usually through wholesale websites like Alibaba.
CBD Production Is Costly
Most CBD brands don’t grow their own hemp or manufacture their own CBD products. Rather, they develop the specifications for their products and subcontract the production work to companies that purchase hemp from farmers and make CBD products from that hemp. Subcontracting the production of CBD products to an outside company significantly lowers the barrier of entry to start a CBD brand because the equipment needed to extract hemp oil and produce products from the oil is very costly.
It isn’t just hemp oil that’s expensive to produce; the hemp itself can also be costly for CBD producers to buy because hemp requires extensive resources and funds to grow and harvest. Even the seeds are expensive. Seeds guaranteed to grow into plants that are high in CBD and low in THC can cost up to $2 each. Just buying the seeds to plant a hemp field might cost thousands of dollars.
In short, using outside resources for CBD production makes it easier to start a CBD brand – but it’s still expensive because everyone in the supply chain has made significant investments and expects to recoup their funds. There is, however, a shortcut: You can use cheap imported CBD rather than expensive domestic hemp. To understand why the lure of imported CBD is so strong, go to Alibaba and search for “CBD.” You’ll see products like powdered CBD isolate and bottles of CBD oil selling for a quarter of the domestic retail price – or less. Many of those products are finished goods. Just buy the goods from China and slap your label on it, and you’ve got products ready to sell on retail shelves.
Cheap imported CBD is a boon for new CBD brands on shoestring budgets, but it’s not what’s best for you as a consumer. Here’s why.
China’s Soil Pollution Problem
In China, heavy metal soil pollution is a serious problem affecting virtually every province. The pollution is the result of Chinese industrialization and improper wastewater disposal from factories, mines and farmland, and those heavy metals end up in China’s rice, wheat, corn, beans, potatoes and more. Inevitably, some of those heavy metals will also end up in Chinese-grown hemp.
The heavy metals contaminating Chinese soil include cadmium, nickel, arsenic, mercury and lead.
The Chinese government is aware of the soil pollution problem and is working hard to remediate the soil. One way to remediate polluted soil is with plants that draw pollution out of the soil, and as we mentioned above, one plant works particularly well for phytoremediation. That plant, of course, is hemp – and now you understand why it’s so important to know the origin of CBD oil before buying it.
How to Buy CBD Oil That’s Safe to Use
You buy CBD oil to support your overall health and wellness, and the way to do that is by buying CBD oil that isn’t contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides and fungicides. You want to buy CBD oil made from plants that are treated right and grown in healthy soil – and to do that, you need to follow these two simple steps.
Know the Origin of the Hemp Before You Buy CBD Oil
Now you understand why finer CBD brands like VSAVI go to such lengths to ensure that customers know where their hemp comes from. It’s because they want their customers to know that they’re not buying cheap imported hemp from nations with questionable growing practices and poor soil quality – they’re paying more for hemp cultivated in healthy soil by growers who comply with strict organic farming regulations. If a CBD brand isn’t completely transparent about where its hemp comes from, you should buy your CBD oil from another company.
Buy CBD Oil That’s Tested in an Outside Laboratory
There are laboratories around the world set up for the testing of hemp and hemp products such as CBD oil. Those labs exist for the CBD and legal cannabis industries, and they’re able to test CBD oil for a variety of contaminants including heavy metals, pesticides, fungicides and residual solvents. They can also test CBD products to confirm that those products actually contain the amount of CBD specified on their labels. Although buying CBD oil from a company that specifies where its hemp is grown is important, you shouldn’t stop there. Buy from a company that tests its products in an outside lab and publishes the test results.