The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board issued a notice informing members of the state’s marijuana industry of the new ban on the Guardian Mite Spray.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) received information from Oregon’s Department of Agriculture that the Guardian Mite pesticide contains abamectin.

Though abamectin is a common insecticide used to kill bugs, this particular ingredient isn’t allowed to be used in marijuana production.

“It’s not good, but it’s not the end of the world,” said the WSDA’s Erik Johansen in an interview with The Stranger.

Johansen said that abamectin is widely used in food and in livestock, smoking poses different risks than ingestion.

Abamectin can cause convulsion, tremors and comas according to a Cornell University based website.

The Oregonian reported how this discovery was made by Rodger Voelker in his marijuana testing lab in Eugene. He found traces of abamectin while going through samples of organically grown crops.

This was a surprise to many marijuana producers since abamectin was not included on the list of ingredients for the pesticide. This pesticide was commonly used by producers since it was labeled as organic.

A man who claimed to be the owner and producer of Guardian Mite told the Oregonian that the product contained ivermectin, a chemical like abamectin. However, ivermectin does not appear on the list of ingredients either.

The alleged owner claimed that they were unaware that the product label had to contain every ingredient.

Since Washington announced the ban on Jan. 20, producers of marijuana who had been using the pesticide have been ordered to stop usage and remove the product from the property.

With this ban being new to producers, many harvested crops have already been treated with Guardian Mite.

Producers must now inform their processors and retailers that their products may have been treated with a pesticide not approved by the WSDA. Retailers who have an inventory of products treated with the pesticide must post a notice in their shops from the producers for their clients to see.