The Need for Stronger Safety Standards for Vapes: Insights from Darwin Millard

The next issue of Cannabis Science and Technology will feature a look at vape manufacturing safety. Darwin Millard, Technical Director of Cannabis Safety and Quality (CSQ) offers his insights on this topic.

Known as "The Spock of Cannabis," Millard specializes in extraction and manufacturing, also serving as ASTM’s Subcommittee Vicechair of D37.04 on Cannabis Processing and Handling, as well as the Subcommittee Chair or D37.08 on Personal/Household-Use Cannabis Devices and Appliances.

In this clip from our interview, Millard explains the origins of the ASTM D37 Vape Device Safety & Testing Initiative.

Transcript

Erin McEvoy: Hello everyone. I'm here with Darwin Millard, Technical Director of Cannabis Safety & Quality. Thank you for meeting with us.

Darwin Millard: Of course, Erin, thanks so much for having me. I'm really looking forward to this.

McEvoy: Excellent. So you're talking about the development of the safety standards. What kind of regulations have you seen that are affecting vape manufacturing, and what are you hoping to see change?

Millard: Great question there, right. So that's kind of why we actually started this initiative, because there are, in fact, a lack of standards and regulations in this area. So, we have certain standards and regulations around the electronics, like the batteries that are used in big devices, right, where they have very strict safety requirements so that they don't accidentally overheat or blow up in your hand, those type of things. And then we do have regulations around waste disposal, e-waste for these electronic devices, but that said, we're kind of otherwise left in the dark. We don't really have regulations when it comes to the manufacturer of these devices to make sure that they're actually fit for purpose and safe. And that's exactly why we launched the ASTM D 37 vape device safety initiative, to create those desperately needed performance and safety specifications.