Juul CEO Resigns and Walmart Stops Selling Vape Pens

The dominoes are falling one by one as concern over vape-related illnesses and a ninth death reaches a critical mass

Thursday, September 26, 2019 - Kevin Burns, the chairman of the board of Juul, the nation's leader in electronic cigarettes, has been forced to step down as the ninth death from vaping has been announced. A 50-year old man has died from vaping that reportedly triggered an unknown underlying medical condition. Burns will be replaced by K.C. Crosthwaite, an executive at Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and a 33% owner Jule making them one of Juul's major investors. According to CNN, the vaping deaths are spreading and it is just a matter of time before every city, state, and county will record vape-related illnesses. "There have been nine known deaths related to vaping in the US so far -- two in California, two in Kansas, and one in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oregon. That's out of 530 confirmed and probable cases of lung injuries related to e-cigarettes as of September 17, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." In response to the ninth death and the public outcry for action, Juul has announced that it will also discontinue all efforts to promote vaping and instead focus their resources on finding out what has gone wrong. The nation's largest retail chain Walmart has announced that it will discontinue selling vape products.

Former CEO Burns has officially stated that the mission of Juul was to help nicotine-addicted individuals to wean themselves off of the drug and to quit smoking altogether. What has happened instead is that vaping has enticed an entire younger generation of middle school-aged and high schoolers to start smoking vapes, having never before used tobacco products. Instead of helping people quit smoking cigarettes, vaping has had the opposite effect and created a new nicotine-addicted generation, and, perhaps not accidentally, opened a new billion-dollar market for nicotine products. Juul and its majority shareholder Phillip Morris have been accused of targeting underage and young adults with their advertisements for flavored vape cartridges. Vape pods come in hundreds of different flavors such as "Dinner Lady Lemon Sherbet, Vapetasia Killer Kustard Apple Twist, Amazing Mango, and Aqua Sweet Cereal Milk," according to CNN. Juul Vape pen danger lawsuit attorneys representing families nationwide have experienced and are helping clients navigate difficult times in life and offer a free consultation before filing a claim.

Several states including New York, Michigan and Massachusetts have banned the sale of flavored vape cartridges. Juul pens have become popular among teenagers for its ability to deliver drugs like THC without being able to be detected like marijuana smoke and experts believe that it is the experimental combinations of drugs that could be causing over 500 people to be admitted to hospitals complaining of pain and difficulty breathing and blaming their vape pens. A vape pod must be electronically heated to a high enough temperature to produce steam vapor. This high heat may be the cause of "Popcorn Lung" a similar condition that is created when microwaved popcorn's flavor powder is heated and then inhaled when the bag is opened. Super-heated vape steam scars critical, delicate lung tissue called alveoli, causing irritation that leads to scarring which causes permanent, irreversible breathing difficulty.

More Recent JUUL Vape Pen Lawsuit News:

Lawyers for JUUL Vape Pen Lawsuits

OnderLaw, LLC is a St. Louis personal injury law firm handling serious injury and death claims across the country. Its mission is the pursuit of justice, no matter how complex the case or strenuous the effort. The Onder Law Firm has represented clients throughout the United States in pharmaceutical and medical device litigation such as Pradaxa, Lexapro and Yasmin/Yaz, where the firm's attorneys held significant leadership roles in the litigation, as well as Actos, DePuy, Risperdal and others. The firm has represented thousands of persons in these and other products liability litigation, including DePuy hip replacement systems, which settled for $2.5 billion and Pradaxa internal bleeding, which settled for $650 million. The Onder Law Firm won over $300 million in four talcum powder ovarian cancer lawsuits in St. Louis to date and other law firms throughout the nation often seek its experience and expertise on complex litigation.