CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An 18-year-old from Gurnee who said vaping put him in the hospital for almost a week is suing e-cigarette make Juul. He said he is terrified of what health problems he may face in the future.
At age 16, Adam Hergenreder started using e-cigarettes, he said. About 80 percent have been nicotine, 20 percent THC.
Last month, Hergenreder got seriously ill.
"I was experiencing tremors, like shaking, and I thought I couldn't control it," Hergenreder said. "And then I started throwing up, just non-stop. I couldn't control it. The difficulty breathing started to onset. And that's when I knew something was wrong."
He spent a week in the hospital and was the center of nationwide debate over the health detriments to vaping.
He now said he is terrified of having health problems in the future.
“I want to call on my friends and peers to awaken to the reality of the dangers of Juul," he said. "Quit while you’re ahead.”
His mother Polly Hergenreder said his thoughts of becoming a firefighter are gone.
"That definitely is not going to be something he's going to be able to do at this point," Polly Hergenreder said.
Adam Hergenreder, through his attorney Anthony Romanucci, is suing Juul and the gas station that sold him the vaping material.
"To put it mildly, Adam didn't stand a chance to avoid getting hooked on these toxic time bombs," Romanucci said.
The lawsuit asks for damages.
Juul did not comment directly on the lawsuit, but in a statement to WBBM, said it has never marketed to youth.
"We do not want any non-nicotine users to try our products," the Juul spokesperson said. "It is now our hope that regulators will impose these same restrictions to protect youth and to preserve the opportunity to eliminate combustible cigarettes, the deadliest legal consumer product known to man. We also must ensure illegal counterfeit and copycat products which may be made with unknown ingredients and under unknown standards and those that deliver controlled substances, stay out of the market."