Juries have awarded more than $3 billion to eight Las Vegas residents who suffered liver failure after drinking “healthy” bottled water that contained a toxin found in rocket fuel.
The lawsuit alleged that Real Water, a now-bankrupt alkalized water company, sold bottles containing the deadly chemical hydrazine. The drinks, marketed as a healthy alternative to tap water, led to the hospitalization of five children and three adults due to life-threatening liver problems.
Emely Wren, one of the plaintiffs, said during her testimony that she had started buying the brand after seeing other colleagues concerned about their health drinking it.
She had no idea that years later she would be cradling her two-year-old son as he was flown to a Salt Lake City children’s hospital for urgent treatment.
“It was probably the scariest moment of my life when your kid was screaming like that and you don’t know what’s going on,” she said. She, her husband Christopher, and her two-year-old son experienced extreme nausea, blurred vision, and lethargy after drinking water in 2020.
Emely and Christopher Brian Wren, and their two-year-old son, suffered from nausea, blurred vision and lethargy in 2020.
The FDA launched an investigation into Real Water and warned that people should not drink, cook, sell or serve the product.
In addition to the $3 billion the company was ordered to pay as punishment, the jury asked Real Water to pay $98 million to help cover the costs the families incurred to treat their physical and psychological injuries.
The children included in the lawsuit were between seven months and five years old. All were airlifted to a children’s hospital in Salt Lake City for acute liver damage in 2020.
Some of the children had cirrhosis, a scarring of the liver that is commonly associated with alcoholics and is irreversible.
Real Water was manufactured to be alkaline, meaning it has a slightly higher pH than water.
We are popularly considered a healthy option, despite not having a significant advantage over normal water, Dr. Howard E. LeWine said the chief medical editor of Harvard Health Publishing.
Manufacturers produce alkaline water in a factory by passing water through giant magnets called ionizers.
Real Water used a novel seven-part process to alkalize its product, which involved electrifying the water twice for 12 hours. The device used to electrify the water was probably the one that produced hydrazine.
Hydrazine is used and produced to make rocket propellants and spacecraft fuels. It is transparent, highly flammable and smells like ammonia.
Ingesting it can cause stomach upset, vomiting, uncontrolled shaking, lethargy, nerve inflammation, and coma. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
No studies have been done to directly determine what effect the toxin has on the liver. But because the liver is responsible for filtering blood, when it breaks down toxins, they can cause serious, irreversible damage to tissue. according to the mayo clinic.
The fact that hydrazine was allowed into the water supply highlights the lack of quality control at the Real Water facilities, Will Kemp, the families’ lead attorney, he told Newsweek.
“We just hope it encourages the bottled water industry to test all their products like they should in the first place,” Mr Kemp said.
One of the most high-profile cases against Real Water was that of Myles Hunwardsen, who had to be flown to hospital for a liver transplant after drinking the company’s water.
Jazmin Schaffer lost function in her hands and began shaking uncontrollably while driving. She was part of the group that received $130 million in damages in February 2024.
Miriam Brody, another plaintiff in the February 2024 case against Real Water, was 78 years old when she was taken to Henderson Hospital and treated for liver failure.
Tina Hartshorn used to buy gallons of Real Water to drink at home and was part of the February 2024 lawsuit against the company.
Federal complaints against Real Water date back to March 2021. The FDA and the Southern Nevada Health District initially investigated the company because it had been linked to non-viral hepatitis.
At that time, Real Water pulled its products from shelves.
This joint investigation resulted in an FDA complaint stating that Real Water had violated national laws by distributing “adulterated and misbranded bottled water.”
The FDA complaint said: “While the companies marketed their products as a healthy alternative to tap water, the government alleged that the products actually consisted of municipal tap water that the defendants processed with various chemicals in violation of the current good manufacturing practices relevant to food. safety standards and risk prevention measures.
Less than two months later, the company filed for bankruptcy. Its chairman, former Nevada legislator Brent Jones, apologized.
They were ordered to pay $228 million in damages in a lawsuit in October 2023 and $130 million in damages in February 2024.
The February 2024 lawsuit included Myles Hunwardsen, 29, who had to receive a liver transplant and Jazmin Schaffer, Tina Hartshorn, Miriam Brody and Christina Sosa, who suffered liver failure after drinking Real Water.
Before even discovering the cause, the plaintiffs suffered severe vomiting, nausea, confusion, fatigue, and brain fog after drinking Real Water sometime in 2020, just like the plaintiffs in the June 2024 case.
Kemp, who also represented the victims in the February case, said: “We want to send a message to food and drink manufacturers that they must commit to quality control.”
