Juul, 18, sues the vaping company after "a toxic bomb leaving him the lungs of a 70-year-old man"

A TEENAGE customer who warns that vaping has left the lungs of a "70-year-old man" is suing a major electronic cigarette manufacturer.

Adam Hergenreder, 18, accused Juul of deliberately advertising the youngsters and letting him know that vaping is cool.

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Adam, who started using electronic cigarettes at the age of 16, recently shared a shocking video of him "convulsing at random" where he had the impression that he "had had a cerebral vascular accident".

Lawyers brought a lawsuit in Lake County District Court on behalf of the teenager hospitalized late August about a week after complaining of nausea and breathing difficulties.

The 85-page lawsuit alleged that Juul Labs indicated in advertisements and through social media campaigns that children could improve their social status by evaporating.

He also claimed that Juul never fully revealed that their products contain dangerous chemicals.

His lawyer, Antonio Romanucci, said, "To be honest, Adam has no chance of avoiding becoming addicted to these toxic time bombs."

VOMITING

Adam says that he began to feel bad last month, but called it an intestinal flu.

After three days of uncontrollable chills and vomiting, his mother, Polly, took him to the hospital in Illinois, United States, where he was put in intensive care.

At first, the doctor did not associate his symptoms with nausea and he received anti-nausea medication, but vomiting did not stop.

They then performed a scan of her stomach and noticed an abnormality in the lower part of her lungs. So they decided to do an x-ray.

Adam told CNN: "It's at that time that they found all the damage."

ALMOST DEAD

The doctors said that if his mother had not taken him to the hospital in the next two or three days, he could have died.

She sat by her side for six days at the hospital, where he was connected to intravenous and oxygen.

A disturbing video of him lying in bed on the bed, tied to tubes, shows his body convulsing as he struggles to breathe.

Dr. Stephen Amesbury, a pulmonologist and ICU physician at the Advocate Condell Medical Center in Illinois, told the broadcaster, "If his mother had not taken him to the hospital within two or three days his breathing could have gotten worse that he could have died if he did not seek medical attention.

"It was a serious lung disease, especially in a young man. He was out of breath and breathed hard.

"It was very disturbing that he is suffering from major lung damage and perhaps a few changes after his recovery."

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Adam, who has since left the hospital but is still recovering, urges people not to vape.

He said, "I do not want to see anyone in my situation, I do not want to see anyone in the hospital as long as I've been."

The teenager admits that he took the habit of "integrating", adding that "everyone was doing it".

Adam said, "It did not taste like a cigarette, it was good."

He added that the flavors he liked, especially mango, and that nicotine was very exciting.

It did not taste like a cigarette. It was good

Adam Hergenreder

"He would wake up in the morning and blow on that Juul, then cough," said Mama Polly.
"He would hit him several times a day, my son would spend half a day and a half every other day, or a day and a half."

Finally, he went from over-the-counter e-liquid vaping to THC vaping, a psychoactive component of marijuana.

But soon after, he began to feel bad and was finally hospitalized.

Adam said, "If I had known what it was doing to my body, I would never have touched it, but I did not know it, I have not been educated."

JUUL ANSWERS

Juul, based in San Francisco, said in a statement that he was "never sold to young people" and that he was running campaigns to combat the use of minors.

He added that his products are intended to help adult smokers break free from traditional paper and tobacco cigarettes, which Juul has described as "the most deadly legal consumer product known to man".

Among the precautions taken by Juul to prevent young people from turning to his electronic cigarettes, it was decided to close his Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The company said it has also rolled out technology limiting sales until someone's age is checked.

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His ordeal follows an outbreak of mysterious and potentially life-threatening lung diseases – likely to be related to appeasement – during the summer.

In the United States, six people are reported to have died from vaping-related lung disease.

The last person to die was in his fifties from Kansas.

They were in the hospital "with symptoms that progressed rapidly", but also for having a history of underlying health problems.

More than 450 people, mostly healthy and aged between 20 and 20, have already been to the hospital with breathing difficulties.

They often suffered from vomiting, fever and fatigue for several days before.

Some even ended up in intensive care for several weeks.

This prompted health officials to issue a warning while they were investigating the problem.

The US Centers for Health and Safety (CDC) said earlier this month that people should "consider not using electronic cigarette products."

Until now, officials say the cause is unknown, but they are conducting investigations.

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