Is Your CBD Toxic?

While you may have taken the time to consider how your food is grown, have you considered how your CBD is grown? If you’re looking for all-natural hemp products, you’ll want to choose a company that ensures the integrity of the entire process, from testing the soil, to selecting clean ingredients for its gels, lotions, and soap products. Many companies will opt for cheap additives to lengthen the shelf life of their products. If you’re not careful, the chemicals in the products you put on your skin will be absorbed, enter your bloodstream, and wreak havoc on your body. 

But, you don’t have to settle for toxic hemp or additives if you know what to look for. This article will empower you to choose CBD products that are made with only natural, simple, and high-quality ingredients.

Hemp’s Superpower

Hemp has the natural ability to vacuum toxins out of the soil. This process is called “phytoremediation” and has led some farmers to use the crop specifically for the purpose of decontaminating their fields.

One farmer in Taranto, Italy planted hemp to clean up his fields after a nearby steel plant poisoned an entire herd of sheep. With his family business of producing ricotta and meat suddenly gone, hemp offered his farm a second chance. It removed the contaminants from his soil and provided a new avenue for income generation for him and his family.

That said, the hemp used to decontaminate soil should never be used to make products for human consumption. The heavy metals in the soil will be transferred to the end CBD product. For this reason, it is all the more important to grow hemp in fields that are completely free of contaminants such as pesticides, herbicides, or heavy metals.

We know that while you may not notice the effects of a toxic product right away, the real danger is in the negative effects that will become apparent down the road. Repeated or long-term exposure to toxic chemicals may lead to serious health complications.

When considering a CBD product, visit the seller’s website to find out where their hemp is grown. Do they grow it themselves, or know the farmer who does? Have they checked the soil for contaminants? Don’t be fooled by attractive packaging or glossy marketing campaigns. If a CBD company doesn’t mention anything about where their hemp is from, they likely don’t know, and their products could be tainted with contaminants.

Beware of Toxic Additives

In addition to using quality-grown hemp, natural CBD product-makers pride themselves on using wholesome ingredients you can find in your own kitchen. By law, the FDA does not approve all skincare products before they go on the market. However, by conducting your own research and choosing a holistic CBD company, you can find CBD oils and topicals that are made with a limited number of natural ingredients.

As a general rule, the fewer ingredients, the better. However, CBD cannot deliver its healing properties by itself. As a fat-soluble compound, it must be paired with a carrier oil to be effectively absorbed by the body. The most common carrier oils include medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) coconut oil, hemp seed oil, and avocado oil. These healthy fats deliver CBD to your cells quickly and efficiently while providing additional health benefits such as antioxidants and vitamins.

But in addition to carrier oils, CBD topicals may contain hazardous additives to make the product smell better, last longer, or permeate the skin more easily. As an informed consumer, you will especially want to watch out for fragrances, artificial colors, or parabens. Fragrances are engineered from thousands of chemicals, but due to trade law, companies do not have to disclose exactly what is in them. Pure CBD products will opt instead for essential oils, such as peppermint oil, lemongrass oil, or rosemary leaf oil, which are extracted from plants, rather than synthetic materials.

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