Juul reportedly sold tainted nicotine pods
Former executive says firm refused to recall product when told of problem
A former top executive of Juul is alleging that the electronic cigarette giant sold at least 1 million contaminated mint-flavored nicotine pods — and refused to recall them when told about the problem in March.
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday, Siddharth Breja, who was senior vice president for global finance, claims he was fired March 21 in retaliation for whistleblowing and objecting to the shipment of the contaminated and expired pods and other illegal and unsafe conduct that “has jeopardized and continues to jeopardize public health and safety and the lives of millions of consumers, many of them children and teens.”
Breja detailed a culture of indifference to safety and quality-control issues among top executives at the company and quoted the then-Chief Executive Kevin Burns saying at a meeting in February: “Half our customers are drunk and vaping” and wouldn’t “notice the quality of our pods.”
Burns, who left the company in September, issued a statement Wednesday afternoon strongly disputing the quote. “I never said this, or anything remotely close to this, period,” the statement said. “As CEO, I had the company make huge investments in product quality, and the facts will show this claim is absolutely false and pure fiction.”
The lawsuit was first reported by BuzzFeed News.
Ted Kwong, a Juul spokesman, dismissed Breja’s claims as baseless.
“He was terminated in March 2019 because he failed to demonstrate the leadership qualities needed in his role,” Kwong said. “The allegations concerning safety issues with Juul products are equally meritless, and we already investigated the underlying manufacturing issue and determined the product met all applicable specifications.”
This lawsuit is only the latest in a growing series of cases against Juul being filed around the country by school districts and individuals. Earlier this month a federal judicial panel gathered together the farflung cases before Judge William H. Orrick in the Northern District of California in San Francisco, who will oversee them. The claims typically focus on personal injury for vapingrelated illnesses or false marketing. The panel estimated that there are about 50 lawsuits so far.
Breja’s lawsuit did not specify what the contaminant in the nicotine pods was. The allegations detail that the shipment of tainted mint-flavored pods resulted from a series of decisions by Juul that created a huge demand for that flavor.
In November 2018, Juul, under scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration, announced it would no longer sell its teen-friendly flavored pods in retail stores, making them available only online. But while Juul moved its dessert flavors off the shelves, it continues to sell menthol and mint in retail stores. Breja alleged that with popular flavors like mango and creme no longer readily accessible, customers began embracing menthol and mint with fervor, so much so that demand outstripped supply.