CIC response to FSA guidance on CBD
Last week saw the publication of the Food Standard Agency’s Cannabidiol (CBD) guidance for England and Wales. It states that Food businesses must apply for authorisation of their CBD extracts, isolates and associated products to be placed on the GB market using our regulated product application service.
In response to this report, Professor Mike Barnes, Chair of the Cannabis Industry Council, said:
“The long-awaited FSA report on Novel Food status of CBD products will cause immeasurable damage to this thriving, safe industry at a time post-Brexit and post-Covid when the Government needs to be nurturing new enterprise, not stifling it with unnecessary bureaucracy.
The cannabis and hemp industry in the UK could create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, generate tens of millions of tax income, reduce our reliance on imports, and provide good, safe products for wellness and medical issues for millions of people in this country.
CBD is safe and over a million people use it in the UK. If properly enacted, the existing regulations – to prevent companies from making any unjustified medical claims and insist on a full Certificate of Analysis to confirm what is in the product and meets legal, controlled cannabinoid limits – would adequately protect consumers.
With this report, the FSA has played into the hands of big CBD companies, restricted consumer choice, put many small companies out of business, and pushed the CBD market towards isolates – which can be less efficacious and have more side effects than broad-spectrum products.”
For more information about the CIC’s response, please contact us.
