JUUL Vaping Lawsuits

Have you or a loved one – perhaps even a teenage child of yours – become addicted to a JUUL? Combined with a potent dose of nicotine and an incessant advertising campaign claiming to be safe, JUUL use especially among younger people has skyrocketed. Lawsuits against JUUL for misleading advertisements and marketing to children are being filed, and the expert personal injury attorneys at the Cambridge firm of Altman & Altman LLP may be able to help you file a claim as well.

What is JUUL?

Manufactured by Juul Labs, JUUL is the most popular electronic cigarette brand available today, which has catapulted in sales and infamy along with a rising cultural shift away from traditional cigarettes towards alternative nicotine delivery systems. The small, discrete devices look like a USB flash drive and deliver a nicotine-rich juice through vaporization directly to the lungs of its user.

Juul Labs was founded in 2017, and is now encountering legal problems and probing from Congressional oversight committees stemming from the belief that the company’s advertising campaigns and development of fruity flavors have had an insidious goal behind them – to make the vaporizers more enticing to teens and young children.

Juul management has denied such allegations, but their case is not helped by the fact that Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA (which manufactures Marlboro cigarettes), bought a 35 percent stake in Juul in December of 2018. Big tobacco’s tactics of marketing to children have been long documented, ultimately resulting in a widespread ban on nearly all forms of cigarette advertising in the country.

Health problems caused by JUUL

Juul Labs has claimed that their products are less harmful than traditional cigarettes and can actually help encourage people to quit using nicotine products altogether. However, there is no actual accepted evidence as of this time that electronic cigarettes – and JUULs in particular – are less harmful than cigarettes.

JUUL products, and many electronic cigarette products, contain a chemical called diacetyl, an additive used to make the inhaled vapor less harsh and smoother. Diacetyl is most commonly known for being added to products like popcorn, as it has an “intensely buttery flavor.” It is approved by the FDA as being safe for consumption, however, diacetyl becomes toxic when it is heated to the point of vaporization.

Overexposure to vaporized diacetyl can cause what is known as “popcorn lung,” which is the closing off of airways within the lungs, which can eventually lead to respiratory failure and total lung collapse, which can both be fatal.

Also troubling about the JUUL product is that laboratory tests have revealed that there actually be more nicotine concentrated within a single JUUL pod than there is in an entire pack of traditional cigarettes. This is because traditional cigarettes filter out some of the nicotine, while there is no filtering of a vaporizer pen. One study showed JUUL products had as much as 59 milligrams of nicotine per milliliter of liquid, as opposed to other electronic cigarettes which had much less.

This amount of concentrated nicotine, especially if ingested by teenagers or children with still developing brains, can potentially cause a whole host of developmental issues, in addition to a serious nicotine addiction – which in a young brain can be even more damaging, as it may have an effect on the release of hormones and the development of healthy neurological pathways.

We will help hold JUUL accountable

Juul Labs claims it has noble goals in mind with its e-cigarette products. They claim they want to help people kick cigarettes entirely, and that preventing children from using their products is a top priority. Despite these claims, the world is seeing an epidemic emerging with teen vaporizing use, as according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as 15 percent of 10th and 12th graders use e-cigarette products, while 7 out of 10 children are exposed to advertising for e-cigs.

If you or one of your children has developed a nicotine addiction due to using JUUL products, or has been otherwise harmed via respiratory issues such as popcorn lung, you should contact one of our expert personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP right away. We have the resources to hold Juul Labs accountable, and with over 50 years of experience, your case is in good hands.

Contact us online or call for a free consultation to go over the details of your case today at 617-492-3000 or toll-free at 800-481-6199. We are available 24/7.