Was California Right to Label THC as a Reproductive Toxin and Carcinogen?

Is It Right for California to Label THC as a Reproductive Toxin and Carcinogen?

Last month, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) in California approved for THC and cannabis smoke to be listed as a reproductive toxin based on Proposition 65.

In fact, unknown to many people, cannabis smoke is actually considered a Prop65 carcinogen and it’s been this way since 2009. What’s new is that THC is now considered as a reproductive toxin.

The Science Advisory Board’s Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee of OEHHA all voted to list cannabis smoke and THC this way because it has “been shown to cause reproductive toxicity based on the developmental endpoint,” says their policy announcement, released on January 3.

Additionally, the agency refers to 7 papers that prove cannabis supposedly leads to adverse postnatal growth in women that consume cannabis during pregnancy.

This would then require cannabis companies to comply with even more requirements needed for their product warnings, which could lead to lawsuits against dispensaries and retailers in what is one of the world’s biggest cannabis industries. These warnings may be necessary for products that seem as harmless as cannabis tea, as well as all kinds of edibles and smokables.

“You just expanded the list of potential plaintiffs,” explains Nicole Howell Neubert to Bloomberg, a managing partner at San Francisco’s Clark Neubert LLP. Their clients already include firms that are involved in many aspects of cannabis business.

But while the OEHHA won’t be enforcing the warnings, California law allows consumers as well as DA’s and other groups to file civil claims against manufacturers that aren’t following the law. These cases can cause items to be recalled, and businesses that don’t comply may also have to face fines.

“If one enforcer gets on a product, you’ll see others get picked up. And of course naming a new chemical on the list would set off another wave,” says David Bush, an attorney in Sebastopol, California, representing consumers involved in Prop 65 lawsuits.

So how safe is cannabis for pregnant women?

And is it right that it’s labeled as a toxin?

The truth is, there is no right answer as of now. Cannabis has been used by pregnant women since ancient times, even during pregnancy, but there really are just so many factors to consider before an expectant mother uses one safely. There’s her existing health status, method of consumption, and quality of weed consumed to be considered among others.

The way it stands is that there is still no screening system used at the federal nor state level that allows for safe cannabis consumption during pregnancy. It’s also unfair for many mothers who choose to consume during pregnancy, that this would be enough for a neglect or child abuse report.

In California alone, cannabis use among pregnant women has doubled in size from 2009 to 2016. The study found that cannabis was popular particularly among moms aged 18 to 24; 22% of pregnant women in these age ranges tested positive for cannabis in 2016. This data shows that younger women perhaps rely even more on cannabis use during pregnancy, which has been shown to help them deal with nausea, morning sickness, and anxiety.

The problem right now is that there is such a stigma against moms consuming cannabis while pregnant, so while much of the data is self-reported, the studies in itself are still far too small and don’t have the statistical power we need to correlate postnatal growth problems with cannabis use.

And while our parents and grandparents may have smoked weed while expecting and gave birth to perfectly normal children, we also have to remember that the THC levels in cannabis has shot up dramatically in the last few years.

The solution? Reschedule cannabis, so that we can study it properly. Studies may say that cannabis may be harmful for expectant mothers and their babies, and while mothers who want to stay safe can listen to that research, we also can’t deny the fact that this practice has been done for centuries now.

We should also give mothers the ability to choose what they feel is best for themselves and their babies, without the threat of taking their children away if this involves cannabis.