What are the heavy metals?
Heavy metals are elements that are found naturally in the earth’s crust, but the concentrations have been increasing dramatically due to human activity. Despite the name, heavy metals can have any atomic weight. They can be any of the elements that exhibit metallic properties, including transition metals, metallics, lanthanides, and actinides. Some of them are even found naturally in the human body and are necessary for our various physiological systems to function correctly. However, any metal becomes toxic if you have too much, especially with prolonged exposure. Some metals have no known benefit and shouldn’t be found in our bodies at all, but often are because of contamination in the foods and water we ingest.Contamination
Anything is considered a contaminant when it is found where it’s not wanted. Because metals occur naturally deep within the earth, they appear naturally within the upper layers of soil as well. Human activities like mining disturb the layers and introduce higher concentrations of heavy metals into the soil we use for crops. Concentrations of metals in soil can get as high as 100,000 mg/kg due to anthropomorphic activity, and we’re seeing more and more land areas contaminated with high concentrations of heavy metals every year. Efforts are being made to reduce the deposits on farmlands and water sources, but municipal waste, pesticides, fertilizers, mining, and emissions continue to contribute to the contamination of soil and pose a significant threat to the health of humans, animals, and the ecosystem.How do Heavy Metals Hurt Us?
Heavy metals can hurt humans by either accumulating and disrupting the function of vital organs directly or by displacing vital nutrients needed for proper function. When heavy metals take the place of nutrients your body needs, your body will respond as if there’s a deficiency of the replaced mineral, even if you’ve consumed enough of it. It’s impossible to stay away from heavy metals completely as they exist all around us all the time, so minimizing your exposure is key to avoiding illness and organ damage. People who work in specific manufacturing jobs where mineral dust is present are at higher risk, as are those who drink tap water that runs through old lead lines, but anyone can be exposed to soil-based heavy metals in their food and supplements.Acute Heavy Metal Poisoning
Acute poisoning is when you receive a high dose of a toxic agent at one time. It can be environmental or can come from accidentally ingesting or inhaling something, like toxic dust in the workplace. Symptoms of acute heavy metal poisoning are many and varied. They range from confusion and loss of consciousness to organ damage, fluid in the lungs, memory loss, and other neurological issues. If you think that you or someone near you has acute heavy metal poisoning, get professional medical help immediately to reduce the chance of permanent damage.Chronic Heavy Metal Poisoning
Chronic heavy metal poisoning is much more common than acute. It comes from repeated exposure to low doses of heavy metals, like what you’ll find in some tap water, foods, supplements, and CBD oils. In kids and infants, chronic heavy metal poisoning can cause developmental issues and cognitive problems. In adults, it causes headaches, joint and muscle aches, weakness and fatigue, and constipation. Long-term exposure can lead to degenerative muscular and neurological processes similar to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Depending on the length of the exposure and how quickly treatment was received, the effects may or may not be permanent.Why is Heavy Metal Contamination so Prevalent in the CBD Industry?
Cannabis plants have long, sufficient roots that enable them to pull more from the soil than most other types of plants. In fact, cannabis is so good at extracting nutrients and contaminants from the soil that it’s used for phytoremediation, a process by which soils and even groundwater are “cleaned” using hemp plants. Anything that’s in the soil is going to end up in the plant, including nutrients, water, heavy metals, pesticides, and mycotoxins, so if the plant is being used to produce extracts like CBD, anything in the soil is going to end up in the final product as well. Consumers who use CBD products that were extracted from plants grown in contaminated soil will likely ingest some amount of toxins, including heavy metals. It’s important to do some research on your CBD manufacturer to find out what type of soil they use and how they prevent or remove heavy metal and other types of contamination. If you wouldn’t drink tap water that contains trace amounts of lead from old pipes, you probably shouldn’t consume CBD oils with any amount of heavy metals in them.How Nesas Hemp Avoids Heavy Metal Contamination
Nesas Hemp sources soil from one of the last remaining untouched locations on the planet. It’s an ancient, fertile soil that’s never been tainted by anthropomorphic activity, ever. There are no fertilizers, no pollution, no municipal waste, or chemical run-off. It’s just rich soil in its natural form, and it produces the healthiest and most productive hemp plants we’ve ever seen. We know our soil and our plants are the best because we test our extract for a wide range of contaminants at up to a parts-per-billion level of accuracy. The standard for testing CBD oil for contaminants is parts-per-million, meaning our testing methods are 1,000 times more precise than the testing methods other manufacturers use. Why do we test that way? We want to protect you. We know our soil is clean, and we stand behind the purity of our hemp extract 100%.
