ANAB has refused to de-accredit an ISO 17025-accredited test laboratory facing a 10-year ban for falsifying cannabis test results, and continues to allow the lab to market its affiliation with the accreditation body.
As reported in October 2022, Nevada-based RSR Analytical Laboratories, operated by LettuceTest LLC (formerly Cannex Nevada LLC), received a formal charging letter by that state’s Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB) claiming the company violated multiple state laws. The Nevada CCB is calling on LettuceTest to have its state licenses revoked for ten years, and pay a minimum $62,500 fine. The CCB reserves the right to demand additional penalties or costs in the future.
The lab holds accreditation to ISO 17025, the product test body standard, by the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB), under ANAB certificate AT-2648. That certificate was signed by ANAB VP Doug Leonard. The scope of the accreditation certificate indicates that ANAB audited RSR for exactly the same tests found to have been falsified by the Cannabis Compliance Board.
Oxebridge founder Christopher Paris wrote to Leonard asking for comment on the news article, but Leonard refused to provide a comment. Instead, Leonard insisted on processing Paris’ email as a formal complaint. Paris insisted the request was not a complaint, and instead simply asked Leonard for comment. Leonard persisted by quoting how Paris’ email was interpreted as a complaint, regardless of the fact that Paris said it was not.
By processing the matter as a “complaint,” ANAB can invoke confidentiality rules under its own ISO 17011 accreditation, and thus keep all records of the matter private, and not having to reveal any information publicly.
Now, in February 2022, another ANAB VP, Reinaldo B. Figueiredo, provided Oxebridge with a final update on the complaint, indicating it has been closed. The Reinaldo B. Figueiredo letter appears to be a standard, copy-and-paste letter, and lacks any details or evidence, but does include marketing language promoting ANAB’s role in the industry.
One ANAB client commented on LinkedIn that the letter appeared wholly inadequate. “If I used that same approach to answer a customer complaint, [ANAB] would be all over me.”
Per ANAB’s online registry of accredited clients, RSR remains fully accredited, indicating that ANAB has taken no action at all on the complaint, and is ignoring the findings of the Nevada Cannabis Compliance Board.
