Lab Founder Says Vitamin E Acetate Occurs Naturally in Cannabis

Amid the nation’s ongoing vaping-related health crisis, which focuses on the additive vitamin E acetate as the culprit. Now, the founder of a marijuana testing lab says that the substance vitamin E acetate naturally occurs in marijuana (cannabis) plants.

Frank Taylor who founded AgriScience Labs says this is the main reason that marijuana vape manufacturers can still have the substance show up on tests, even if they didn’t add it to the product, Westword reported.

Certain vape products have thin liquids, so vitamin E acetate has become a go-to thickener. Vape cartridges that were deemed illegal had very thin liquid, a lower-quality liquid, so a lot of vitamin E acetate was added to thicken it and make it look like it’s a better quality product. It wasn’t something that was tested for previously since the dangers of inhaling vitamin E acetate were unknown.

It was determined by AgriScience Labs that about 400 parts-per-million is a natural amount of vitamin E acetate to be present in cannabis plants. Whereas, synthetic vitamin E acetate used as an additive can be seen at a rate of about 200-times more than the naturally occurring amount found in cannabis.

The lab hinted that synthetic vitamin E acetate is the culprit while the naturally occurring form – at low amounts – is probably harmless.