E-Cigarette Maker Apologizes for Teen Vaping ‘Epidemic’

Almost overnight, Juul became the leading provider in the burgeoning e-cigarette market.

Recently, company CEO Kevin Burns said that he was “sorry” so many teens were using the product, as vaping is not safe for minors.

“It’s not intended for them,” Burns offered.

“I hope there was nothing that we did that made it appealing to them.

As a parent of a 16-year-old, I’m sorry for them, and I have empathy for them, in terms of what the challenges they’re going through,” he continued.

Under public pressure, Juul has pulled its social media advertising campaigns and stopped selling some flavored e-cigarettes.

The company also offers lower nicotine products, but these e-cigarettes still have up to three times as much nicotine as paper cigarettes.

While he still held the top office, former Food and Drug Administration head Dr. Mark Gottlieb gave the agency until 2021 to release a comprehensive report about the health effects of e-cigarettes.

The Teen Vaping Epidemic

E-cigarettes use small heaters to transform liquid into a vapor, which the user then inhales.

No one is sure why so many teens use this product.

Some people think that a kid-friendly marketing campaign which featured cartoon characters and bright colors, along with flavors like chocolate pudding and sweet butterscotch, may have contributed to the teen vaping epidemic.

These flavored e-cigarettes may be even more harmful than the unflavored ones, as outlined below.

Whatever is responsible, the teen vaping epidemic is definitely real.

10 percent of eighth graders regularly use e-cigarettes, and the percentage increases to 16 percent, or about one in six, of twelfth graders.

As many as 20 percent of high school students have vaped at least once.

Possible Side-Effects

Perhaps the scariest thing about e-cigarettes is that no one really knows how this product affects children.

But what we do know is frightening.

Many e-cigarettes contain four of five times as much nicotine as tobacco cigarettes.

So, while vaping does not create the same problems as smoking, it multiplies the side-effects associated with nicotine addiction.

Some of these ill effects include:

• Formaldehyde: E-cigarette vapor has high levels of this toxic chemical.Additionally, when people vape, the particles become wedged in the deepest parts of the lung.High-voltage e-cigarettes have particularly high levels of formaldehyde and heavy metals.
• Chemical Burns: Moreover, e-cigarette vapor irritates the delicate nose and throat linings.These burns often become infected.
• Popcorn Lung: Diacetyl, a once-common flavoring in microwave popcorn, causes bronchiolitis obliterans.Scar tissue builds up in the lungs, constricting breathing passages.As a result, victims experience symptoms like persistent dry cough, trouble breathing, dizziness, and headaches.

  BO is incurable and degenerative, but medication can ease the symptoms.

• Heart Disease: Due to the BO connection, popcorn companies stopped using diacetyl.Bur e-cigarette companies still use toxic chemicals like this one to produce fruity or sugary flavors.A recent study connects these flavorings to heart disease and cell death as well as popcorn lung.

Due to the serious and permanent nature of these injuries, substantial compensation may be available.

Your Claim for Damages

Generally, manufacturers are strictly liable for the injuries that their defective products cause.

The issue could be either a design or manufacturing defect.

Both these problems are common in consumer product cases.

Hip implants are a good illustration.

The metal-on-metal grinding could cause metal poisoning, which is a design defect.

Other hip implants, mostly cheap imports, have high levels of heavy metals like chromium and cadmium.

That’s a manufacturing defect.

Victim-plaintiffs need only establish cause in strict liability cases.

That showing is easier to make in New York, because state law is more flexible in allowing expert witness testimony.

E-cigarette use may cause serious injury, especially among children.

For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney in New York, contact Napoli Shkolnik PLLC.

You have a limited amount of time to act.