CALGARY, Alberta, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FluroTech Ltd. (TSX-V: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF), (“FluroTech” or the “Company”) recognizes the burgeoning market for the CompleTestTM hemp and cannabis testing device with a notable industry opportunity brought about by the signing of the 2018 United States (“U.S.”) Farm Bill.
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly referred to as the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, removes the long-held legal implications, stigma and ambiguity surrounding the American hemp industry.
Changes to the U.S. Farm Bill included removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, means it is no longer an illegal substance under federal law. Despite belonging to the same species as cannabis, hemp has no psychoactive effects. Under the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, a hemp plant must contain less than 0.3 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”).
“With the U.S. Federal legalization of hemp, FluroTech is able to expand its addressable market in North America to the U.S. and progress its goal to be the preferred in-house precision testing device for hemp and cannabis growers globally,” commented Danny Dalla-Longa. “Hemp is difficult to distinguish from cannabis with THC from appearance and scent. We anticipate that in addition to growers, law enforcement and other regulators will require devices that can accurately distinguish the two products.”
According to industry analysts at Brightfield Group, the hemp-derived cannabidiol (“CBD”) market in the U.S. is expected to quickly go mainstream and become a $5.7 billion market by next year and growing to a $22 billion market by 2022. Ensuring high quality hemp is produced with known THC and CBD concentrations, and free of heavy metals, pesticides and mold, will be required by consumers of hemp-based human foods and animal supplements. The Company plans to have its hemp test protocol completed in Q2 2019 and to enter the American market shortly thereafter.
CBD can be found in varieties of the cannabis plant, including hemp plants. CBD does not produce a high or intoxicating effect. However, there is some evidence that CBD may influence some of the effects that THC has on the brain. CBD is also being studied for its possible therapeutic uses; it has received market approval in the U.S. for two severe forms of epilepsy.
About CompleTest™
CompleTest™ is FluroTech’s flagship brand and product line. CompleTest™ is a portable, cost-effective, state-of-the-art hemp and cannabis testing device, able to provide fast, accurate and consistent testing results. It is designed for cultivators, dispensaries and anyone with an interest in optimizing potency yield and consumer safety to test the quality and safety of their cannabis products.
About FluroTech (TSX-V: TEST) (OTCQB: FLURF)
FluroTech is a technology and marketing company whose core business is focused on the commercialization of new technologies in the cannabis industry. FluroTech’s proprietary spectroscopy-based technology allows for the testing and identification of organic and inorganic compounds contained within biological samples. Using the technology that was developed at the University of Calgary, FluroTech has developed a two-part solution comprising an instrument called the CompleTest™ and consumable testing kits.
To learn more, visit www.FluroTech.com.
Contact Information
Danny Dalla-Longa
Chief Executive Officer
403.680.0644
danny@flurotech.com
FluroTech Ltd.
Alistair Ross Technology Centre
Suite 111, 3553-31 Street NW
Calgary, AB T2L 2K7
info@flurotech.com
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the benefit or account of U.S. persons, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information generally refers to information about an issuer’s business, capital, or operations that is prospective in nature, and includes future-oriented financial information about the issuer’s prospective financial performance or financial position. The forward-looking information in this news release includes disclosure about the U.S. hemp market opportunity for the CompleTestTM, FluroTech’s ability to expand the addressable market into the U.S., the ability to develop a hemp testing protocol and the timing of the protocol completion.
The Company made certain material assumptions, including but not limited to prevailing market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, the need and demand for hemp testing protocol utilizing the CompleTestTM in the U.S., to develop the forward-looking information in this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Actual results may vary from the forward-looking information in this news release due to certain material risk factors. These risk factors include, but are not limited to, adverse market conditions and regulatory and other risks associated with the cannabis and hemp industry in general, users of the Company’s CompleTestTM technology and the CompleTest™ failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the product, changes to the anticipated regulatory regime in respect of the cannabis and hemp industry, competition from other developers of similar technology, failure to obtain patent protection for the company, failure to reach commercialization of the technology and failure for the products anticipated market to develop. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material risk factors and assumptions is not exhaustive.
The Company assumes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking information in this news release, unless it is required to do so under Canadian securities legislation.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release.