Header Image Asher Simon-Scherer seals vape cartridges with a sampling pump that monitors the air directly around him. (Santiago Ochoa/Cascadia Daily News)
Cascadia Daily
In a ground-breaking study, researchers from the University of Washington Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences are investigating potential health hazards for workers in cannabis production.
Even though thousands of new workers are hired in the cannabis industry every year, not much is known about workplace safety hazards, because the drug was only legalized in many U.S. states within the last two decades, researchers explained. Signs seem to indicate these workers are exposed to respiratory hazards and may be at risk of occupational lung diseases.
The UW study was in part prompted by two cannabis industry fatalities; one worker in Massachusetts and another in California are known to have died due to work-related asthma. The study is led by principal investigators Christopher Simpson and Coralynn Sack and funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The cannabis industry is pretty understudied historically because it is a Schedule I drug,” said Callan Krevanko, a PhD student at UW who is leading the field research. “To our knowledge, we’re the first study that’s looking into these things. It’s a pretty ground-breaking study.”
The team hopes to study around 10 cannabis facilities across the state of Washington, visiting grow operations and processing facilities that vary in size from just a handful of workers to hundreds. They’re aiming to test more than 100 workers.
Nick Cihlar is the co-founder of Subdued Excitement or SubX, a producer and processor based in Ferndale. After the state of Washington legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, SubX was among the first 60 or so businesses to receive a license in the first wave of legitimization.
“I applaud the effort,” Cihlar said about the UW study. “I think there is, in fact going to be a problem found with the industry, that workers aren’t covering up when they should, that there is insufficient air filtration, and I think it’s going to come back to bite some people in the ass. I don’t have any evidence of that, but that’s why they’re here.”
SubX opened its doors to the UW team in early November. Field researchers were in the facility for a week, monitoring airborne contaminants, measuring personal breathing zone samples, and performing health tests to see what people are exposed to and whether they’re experiencing symptoms.
Cannabis production facilities are overseen by the state Labor & Industries Department and federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Cihlar pointed out.
“We have good worker safety standards, but there are not too many things that are cannabis-specific,” he said.
He thinks it’s common sense that cannabis production, especially trimming — removing excess plant material from the bud by hand — can have an impact on workers’ lungs. At SubX, trimmers are encouraged to wear masks and each workstation has an air filter.
“For the most part, it’s not a particularly hazardous environment, but when you’re trimming dry flowers, there’s just an unavoidable particulate cloud in front of you,” Cihlar said. “This is a chance to get some hard data about what’s actually happening.”
The team will wrap up field research this winter. After processing the data, they’ll be able to offer some recommendations for best practices, such as local exhaust ventilation and personal protective equipment.
Learn more about the studies here
Sean Hocking
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