YouTuber Logan Paul is defending Prime Hydration after the company he co-founded was named in a class action lawsuit claiming its sports drinks contain PFAS.
Paul posted a 3-minute video Wednesday to his TikTok, which has 18.3 million followers, addressing the claims that Prime sports drinks contain forever chemicals.
“First off, anyone can sue anyone at any time that does not make the lawsuit true,” Paul said in the TikTok video. “And in this case, it is not… one person conducted a random study and has provided zero evidence to substantiate any of their claims.”
Paul and co-founder KSI, real name Olajide Olayinka Williams “JJ” Olatunji, began Prime Hydration LLC in 2022 and surpassed $1.2 billion in annual sales in 2023, Bloomberg reported.
Prime drink lawsuits:Energy, sports drinks contain PFAS and excessive caffeine, class action suits say
Who is suing Prime Hydration?
On behalf of Elizabeth Castillo and other U.S. consumers of Prime Hydration, the Milberg law firm filed a class action suit against Paul’s company in August 2023 in the Northern District of California. The suit says independent third-party testing found PFAS chemicals in Prime Hydration grape flavor.
“Lead plaintiff Elizabeth Castillo, a resident of California, purchased Prime Hydration on multiple occasions but says she would not have bought it at all if the product had been accurately marketed and labeled as containing PFAS,” the Milberg law firm said in an August 2023 news release. “These chemicals were not reasonably detectible to consumers like herself.”
Castillo’s suit is seeking a $5 million judgment, federal court records show.
The judge in the case heard Prime’s argument to dismiss the suit on April 18, according to court records. Paul’s company filed the motion due to Castillo not alleging “a cognizable injury” and her not alleging “facts showing a concrete (and) imminent threat of future harm.”
USA TODAY contacted Milberg law firm on Tuesday but did not receive an immediate response.
‘This ain’t a rinky-dink operation,’ Logan Paul says
In the TikTok video, Paul says there are “claims PFAS or forever chemicals come from plastics,” therefore the allegations are not about the ingredients in Prime Hydration drinks but rather the bottle the product is manufactured in.
“This ain’t a rinky-dink operation,” Paul said. “We use the top bottle manufacturers in the United States. All your favorite beverage brands… use these companies. If the product is served in plastic, they make a bottle for them.”
Paul said Prime “follows Title 21 for the code of regulations for (polyethylene terephthalate) and all other types of bottles.”
“(Title 21) made it unlawful to manufacture adulterated or misbranded foods or drugs in Territories or District of Columbia and provided penalty for violations,” according to the U.S. Code.
U.S. beverage companies use polyethylene terephthalate (PET) because they’re a recyclable, clear, durable and versatile plastic, the American Beverage Association said.
PFAS can be found in many places, EPA says
PFAS chemicals are found in water, air, fish and soil at locations across the U.S. and the globe, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said. PFAS can be present in drinking water, food, food packaging, fire extinguishing foam, household products and personal care products like shampoo and dental floss, the EPA added.
Scientific research indicates that exposure to certain PFAS “may lead to adverse health outcomes,” including possible reproductive issues, developmental delays in children, higher risk of some cancers, reduced immune response, higher cholesterol levels and interference with the body’s natural hormones, according to the EPA.
Although some effects of forever chemicals have been reported, “research is still ongoing to determine how different levels of exposure to different PFAS can lead to a variety of health effects,” the independent agency said.
“Research is also underway to better understand the health effects associated with low levels of exposure to PFAS over long periods of time, especially in children,” according to the EPA.
Logan Paul disputes independent third-party PFAS testing on Prime Hydration drinks
Paul called the independent third-party PFAS testing done as a part of Castillo’s suit “absolute bull.”
“They’re claiming that Prime has 0.06 (parts per trillion),” Paul said about the testing. “But that’s interesting because the EPA says anything under 1.1 (parts per trillion) can not be deemed as reasonably accurate. They don’t have the right tools or resources to even prove what they’re claiming.”
Castillo’s and Milberg law firm’s suit alleges the amount of PFAS found within Prime Hydration during the testing is “three times the (EPA’s) recommended lifetime health advisory for drinking water.” The EPA’s most recent recommendation for lifetime health advisory levels for PFAS in drinking water is 0.02 parts per trillion, according to the independent agency.
“EPA’s 2022 lifetime health advisory levels, measured in parts per trillion (ppt), offer protection for people from adverse health effects resulting from exposure throughout their lives to these individual PFAS in drinking water,” the agency said.
Castillo and Milberg law firm also said in the suit that the “independent testing was conducted in accordance with accepted industry standards for detecting the presence of PFAS.”
Prime has a ‘big multi-million dollar filter,’ Logan Paul says
In addition to criticizing the independent testing, Paul said Prime has a “big multi-million dollar filter that filters water from the state.”
“Water you drink at home; water provided by the state that we filter before we make it into Prime,” Paul said. “If this claim about PFOS and PFAs is true, what is that saying about your state water?”
In the TikTok video, Paul also referred to the EPA’s recommendations to remove PFAS from drinking water, which includes activated carbon treatment, ion exchange treatment and reverse osmosis.
“Well we do two out of the three of those to clean the state’s water before it even becomes Prime,” Paul said.
Where is Prime manufactured and distributed?
Prime’s products are manufactured and distributed by a company based in Louisville, Kentucky called Congo Brands, the Washington Post reported.
Prime has its own page on Congo Brands’ website, along with drink companies Alani Nu and 3D Energy.
“The Prime brand is bold, energetic, humorous, and highly coveted across generations,” according to Congo Brands’ website. “Expanding globally, Prime can be found at select retailers across the world.”
Paul notes in the TikTok video that “for customer safety” the drink company “retains samples of every single batch of Prime that has ever come off the production line.”
“So if/when this plaintiff wants to come forward with a production number, we will retain samples from that batch and conduct our own independent study,” the YouTuber said. “We’re putting out better-for-you products.”
‘They never called us,’ Logan Paul says about FDA probe
Before ending the TikTok video, Paul spoke about Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate Prime energy drinks in 2023.
“It never happened,” Paul said about the FDA probe. “They never called us because we follow every single guideline and regulation.”
Prime Hydration LLC is also being sued by Lara Vera, a New York woman claiming the company used “misleading and deceptive practices” regarding its energy drinks’ caffeine content. Although Paul’s TikTok video did not address Vera’s class action suit, which was filed April 8 in the Southern District of New York, he has previously addressed the caffeine in Prime’s energy drinks.
“Caffeine consumption isn’t recommended for kids or anyone under the age of 18,” he told ABC News in November 2023. “That’s an industry standard thing, not a Prime-specific one. People need to be smart about what they’re putting in their bodies.”
