The U.S. vaping crisis takes a dramatic turn as Juul, a leading e-cigarette maker, faces allegations of distributing 1 million contaminated products.
In recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated a mysterious lung illness affecting over 1,000 people nationwide, with nearly twenty deaths reported. New York State swiftly banned e-cigarette sales ahead of federal action.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, Juul is now embroiled in a lawsuit, as reported by CBS News on October 30, 2019. The claims: Juul shipped at least 1 million contaminated e-cigarettes to customers and retailers.
The accusations come from Siddharth Breja, Juul's former chief financial officer. He alleges that CEO Kevin Burns was informed of the contamination but failed to notify customers or issue recalls.
Breja claims ready-to-ship e-cigarettes were expired, and his request to add expiry dates was rejected.
Juul products are popular among young smokers. Breja quotes Burns as saying upon warning: "Half of our customers are drunk and can't even stand up, who will notice the quality of our vapes?"
This lawsuit may shed light on the lung disease outbreak. Official findings are pending trial outcomes.
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