Via America’s Lawyer: Millions of Americans who struggle with sleep apnea depend on CPAP machines and ventilators to get a good night’s rest. Attorney Troy Bouk joins Mike Papantonio to discuss the mass recall of these sleep aids after they were found to contain cancer-causing chemicals. Also, Juul coughs up a $40 million settlement in North Carolina over accusations of marketing its vapes to teenagers. Mike Papantonio and Farron Cousins discuss more.
Click here to find out more about Philips CPAP lawsuits.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Millions of Americans who struggle with sleep apnea, rely on CPAP machines and ventilators to get a good night’s rest. Now, Phillips is recalling its sleep aids after they were found to contain cancer causing chemicals and worse, by the way. Attorney Troy Bouk joins me with the details. He’s kind of, you’re heading this up. Thank you. Every, you know, I see you do these unusual projects. This is one I thought when I took a look at it, I thought it was a little unusual, but the more you dig into this story, it’s pretty disturbing. Tell us this story.
Troy Bouk: Yeah, it really is. Well, a couple of things right off the start that sound sort of suspicious is that back in early April, Phillips announced they had a new product line for the CPAPs and BiPAPs and so they announced their new product launch. And then a couple of weeks later, they sort of issued a release, said, hey, the, the current Bi, or CPAPs and BiPAPs that they have across the US that many people use are dangerously defective. Right. Because they emit these types of chemicals. And, and so, and then shortly after that, there was a recall. So it almost looks like if you’re a very suspicious that they’re pushing people into their new model plan, right.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. Yeah. So, so what are the problems with this machine, Phillips CPAP, what, what are the problems?
Troy Bouk: Well, it’s got multiple problems and we only know what Phillips is telling us so far. And so we only know from reading the press release about the dangerously defective product. And basically they’re saying now that the foam, which is used inside the machine to actually quiet the machine down, because if you can imagine, you don’t want a very loud CPAP machine sitting on your nightstand. So, so that foam breaks down over time, and it also breaks down with heat and humidity. And so little particles will break off the foam and the air actually in the machine travels through that foam. And then up through the, the mask that you see there.
Mike Papantonio: To the pulmonary system.
Troy Bouk: To the pulmonary system.
Mike Papantonio: Becomes systemic.
Troy Bouk: Right.
Mike Papantonio: Okay. Let me add something that you, I don’t know if you’re going to cover this but it’s important, you know, in the early days of, of, of breast implant cases they used the same foam. The foam caused all types of auto-immune diseases. Caused Raynaud’s syndrome, scleroderma, whole host of really ugly auto-immune disease. I think what I’m reading on this, this has the potential to go the same way. It also caused reactive airways disease if it lodged in the lungs. Are those things that make any sense to you as you look at the story?
Troy Bouk: Yeah, it really does. I think you’ve hit on all points there, Pap. It’s, and it’s just simply too early to know. But one thing we do know that these users are using this machine every single night. They’re using it six to eight hours. Some of them even longer every night and it’s right over their mouth. So you would think that that’s a long duration. I talked to many people even over the weekend that have used these same devices, five years, six years, et cetera and, and, and so they’re all worried. We’ve got millions of people across the US worried because this recall alone affects almost 4 million people.
Mike Papantonio: Mm. So you’re a dual citizen, Canada and the US. Are they doing this in Canada too?
Troy Bouk: I think they’re probably going to be doing it worldwide.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah. So, so how long, you know, how long did they know about this problem? Why, you know, I handle the cases, you handle cases, where you look at the documents, you go, my God, they’ve known about it for a decade. They chose not to do anything because the CEO wanted to make a bigger bonus. Is that the case here, you think?
Troy Bouk: You know, we don’t know, because we only know at this point what they’re telling us, but it is suspicious. Like I said earlier, it’s suspicious that they had this new product launch. And then they report to the FDA they had like, I think 57 adverse event reports, which is basically when people across the US that are using the machine, their, their doctors or themselves reported to the FDA and said, hey, you know, we’re having this problem. Or I’ve been diagnosed with this cancer or something. Well, all of those were reported up from the, by the company on the same day.
Mike Papantonio: Yeah, well see, the problem is, as you pointed out to begin with, it becomes systemic. Once it’s inhaled and it moves to the lungs that moves to the blood system, it moves in the liver, it moves throughout the body. So it’s very difficult to, for them to have a defense well, gee, it’s only a little bit.
Troy Bouk: Right.
Mike Papantonio: We know the history of this foam. There’s a whole bunch of science on this foam to tell us what it already does as far as causing problems. Well look, good luck on this. Okay.
Troy Bouk: Thanks, Pap.
Mike Papantonio: You’re going to be heading this up. And I, I think the thing that you’re going to find is those documents we’re talking about.
Troy Bouk: Right.
Mike Papantonio: They’re going to be real bad.
Troy Bouk: Yeah. I totally agree with you. I think we’re going to, we’re, this is just the tip of the iceberg that we’re seeing. And so, it’s, and it’s millions of people are very, very worried tonight.
Mike Papantonio: Thank you for joining me. Okay.
Troy Bouk: Thank you.
Mike Papantonio: Finally tonight some good news. The state of North Carolina has reached a $40 million settlement with Juul over the company marketing their product to teens. The same way the tobacco industry. This is, this is just the tobacco industry. It’s the same folks. They lied to the American public about cancer and heart disease and paid off doctors to say whatever they wanted. But their, their, their, their attempt to go after kids is unbelievable. They’ve had summer camps, right?
Farron Cousins: Yeah.
Mike Papantonio: They’ve got, they’ve got names of flavored Juul products, olly olly orange, goofy grape, it’s disgusting, I mean.
Farron Cousins: Well, and another thing we found out too, you know, throughout all of this happening and being attacked by the, you know, crazed vapers online, is that they would also put this stuff, make sure that their displays sat eye level with young people, not with adults, but with young people so that would be the first thing they see when they walk into a gas station or a vape shop. You know, as you mentioned, the flavors. They’re sponsoring these events, not just the summer camps, they’ve got vaping tournaments that they’re sponsoring. They’re sponsoring regular sporting events. And North Carolina, you know, a tobacco state of all places finally came out and said enough. The AG took them on, got this good settlement. They can’t sponsor anything. They can’t do their advertisements. They’ve got to redo all of their marketing. And this is a great step forward. Now we need 49 more states to step in and do the same thing.
Mike Papantonio: Oh yeah. This is not enough money. You know, as you know, our law firm initiated the entire national tobacco litigation, started right here at this law firm. So we had all the documents and it’s very apparent. They’re using exactly the same game plan that they used to get mama and granddaddy addicted to, to nicotine. This is just part of the addiction program.
Farron Cousins: It is.
Mike Papantonio: They understand if you can get a child addicted at around 16 years old, that you’re going to have loyalty to the brand throughout their entire years or so. Anyway, you’ve written some great stuff about it, continue writing, okay.
Farron Cousins: Thank you.
Mike Papantonio: Thanks for joining me, Farron. Okay.
Farron Cousins: Thank you.
Mike Papantonio: That’s all for tonight. Find us on Twitter and Facebook @facebook.com/rtamericaslawyer. You can watch all RT America programs on Direct TV channel 321. Also stream them live on YouTube. And by the way, be sure to check out RT’s very interesting new portable app, where you can watch all your favorite shows. I’m Mike Papantonio and this is America’s Lawyer where every week we tell you the stories that corporate media is ordered not to tell because their advertisers won’t let them, or they’re not able to tell the story because of their political affiliation. Have a great night.
