Consumers rely on hemp and cannabis tinctures for critical health and wellness benefits. However, a dangerous risk lies hidden in their droppers. Potential lead contamination in ink-based dispensers, particularly those sourced from China, could be an industry-wide issue. Even worse, heavy metal adulteration might extend beyond cannabis, compromising tinctures across the entire health and wellness sector.
We sat down with Nathan Beckham, co-founder of HempLucid, for a firsthand account. Together, we explored the dropper contamination problem and the lab testing solution.
Uncovering the Dropper Contamination Problem
In 2020, the Florida Department of Agriculture tested products from HempLucid, a botanical brand known for its water-soluble CBD, full-spectrum hemp, and functional mushroom formulas. The Department found significantly elevated lead levels in some of the brand's tinctures.
Shocked by the results, Nathan and his team immediately began investigating the source through formula testing and reviewing their supply chain. However, their initial analysis did not reveal a pattern that linked the lead infiltration to a single factor.
“We spent over $20,000 and four weeks testing every batch we made in the prior year or so,” Nathan said. “We noticed lead appearing in about 20% of our products and confirmed it wasn’t from our manufacturing process.”
The turning point came when a hemp testing laboratory in Las Vegas suggested HempLucid’s tincture droppers could be the culprit.
After testing the droppers, the lab found that metered dispensers with ink-based dosage markings were consistently compromised.
“We deduced that the ink used to mark the droppers contained lead. Depending on the formula, the ink seemed to leach into the tinctures over time,” Beckham explained.
In the most egregious examples, formulas contained up to 6.0 parts per million of lead. HempLucid’s water-soluble tinctures and those with vegetable glycerin bases were the most vulnerable.
The Impact on Health and Wellness
Lead exposure can cause serious neurological damage, developmental delays, and reproductive issues, among other chronic conditions. The fact that such toxins could easily permeate HempLucid’s wellness products was highly concerning.
When Nate and the team discovered the issue, they immediately discontinued using ink-based droppers. They also shifted packaging suppliers from China to trusted local sources and implemented rigorous hemp testing protocols.
“We take serious pride in the purity and safety of our products,” Nathan stated.
Still, Nathan highlights a significant gap in regulatory oversight, which has broader implications for hemp and cannabis products, along with the entire wellness industry and consumer health.
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Nathan believes all tinctures may face contamination issues due to brand supply chains.
“I honestly believe the problem is exceptionally pervasive,” Beckham said.
The concern stems from an estimate that most droppers are sourced from China, where inconsistencies and inaccurate Certificates of Analysis (COAs) are common. COAs are laboratory reports that provide detailed information about a product's composition and quality.
Nathan suggested that while Chinese manufacturers provide COAs claiming their products are lead-free, the reality is often different. If cannabis brands don’t re-test the droppers internally and over time, they could unknowingly distribute products whose ink-based droppers eventually infiltrate the solution.
State regulatory bodies, like Florida’s Department of Agriculture, occasionally discovers these issues and raises concerns to the brands in question. However, Nathan fears some organizations don’t conduct the comprehensive testing required to identify the faulty supply chain source.
“HempLucid could have been reactive after the Department alerted us. We could have found the individual products with lead, replaced them, and moved forward without uncovering the dropper issue.”
Simply disposing of a compromised batch or temporarily adjusting production processes addresses the immediate regulatory concerns. However, these fixes do not solve the underlying issue or guarantee long-term safety.
Regulatory and Consumer Impact
One major issue is that lawmakers require cannabis brands to submit products for safety testing. However, packaging, including droppers, rolling papers, and bottles, aren’t subject to the same compliance rules. This discrepancy allows impurities to pass through safety screening and reach consumers.
The situation is further complicated because not all states require finished goods testing. Many assume that if a batch of hemp or cannabis flower passes a heavy metal test, subsequent products, like prerolls and tinctures, should be safe.
However, as Nathan’s experience and a recent study on rolling papers illustrate, this assumption is flawed. Packaging materials can introduce toxins even after the primary product has been deemed safe.
Packaging Contamination Beyond Droppers
In 2024, Michigan’s Lake Superior State University published the first peer-reviewed study on heavy metals in rolling papers. They analyzed 53 commercially available products and found 26 potentially toxic heavy metals. The findings were alarming, with several samples exceeding acceptable limits for lead, copper, chromium, vanadium, and arsenic.
The Need for Rigorous Testing and Transparency
To avoid lead contamination, regulatory bodies must expand their testing requirements to include packaging and final products. Additionally, brands and manufacturers must make a concerted effort to protect their consumers.
Addressing hemp and cannabis packaging contamination includes a wide range of solutions:
Eliminating Copper-Based Inks: Manufacturers can significantly reduce contamination by avoiding heavy metals inks.
Replacing PETE Tips: PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) tips, used in packaging like dropper caps, can contain heavy metals in their inks. Using cleaner materials like plain paper can lower the risk of contamination.
Conducting Rigorous Testing: Implementing more full panel testing protocols for all components, including packaging, can ensure safer products. These include shelf life testing to determine a product’s purity after three, six, and twelve months.
Reviewing Product Design: Evaluating and redesigning products to minimize the use of potentially harmful materials can improve overall safety.
Educating Consumers: Informing consumers about the potential risks associated with certain types of packaging can help them make safer choices.
The Consumer's Role
Nathan advises consumers to be vigilant about the tinctures they purchase. He stressed the need to demand transparency from manufacturers and to choose brands that provide detailed COAs, including safety tests for packaging materials.
By demanding higher quality products, consumers can elevate this issue’s importance to industry brands and regulators.
Moving Forward
Nathan envisions a future where companies prioritize consumer health, starting at their supply chain and ending with rigorous shelf life testing in three-, six- and twelve-month periods.
“From the beginning, HempLucid has been dedicated to providing the most pure products we could produce with the highest quality genetics. We don’t want to undermine that promise with a formula purity problem,” he emphasized.
Nathan hopes this perspective guides the entire hemp, cannabis, and wellness industries toward better practices. Until then, vigilance and caution are key.
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