Logan Paul’s Prime energy drinks contain toxic PFAS chemicals, lawsuit alleges (2024)

A class-action lawsuit against a leading sports drink brand founded by Logan Paul, a boxer and wrestler, alleges that some of its products contain toxic “forever chemicals” at three times the limit of what a human should consume in an entire lifetime.

The lawsuit accuses Prime Hydration LLC, which has marketing deals with some of the world’s biggest sports teams and athletes, of fraudulently marketing its drinks as healthy even though one of its flavors was found to contain extremely high levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), according to legal documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The case was filed in Aug. 2023, but a motion to dismiss hearing was heard last week. In the motion to dismiss, the company argued that the plaintiff failed to allege “cognizable injury” and lacked standing, among other factors.

Paul responded to the lawsuit on April 24 in TikTok video.

“First off anyone can sue anyone at any time that does not make the lawsuit true. And in this case, it is not. PFOS, or forever chemicals come from plastic. So in this case, they’re not talking about the actual drink, the liquid itself — Prime — they’re talking about the bottle that Prime is manufactured in. This ain’t a little rinky dink operation, we use the top bottle manufacturers in the United States,” Paul says in the video.

The court said it would issue a written order once a decision had been made.

The allegations against Prime, specifically its grape-flavored drink, follow similar lawsuits and years of scientific evidence showing that PFAS chemicals are highly toxic and can cause a range of health problems in people, including cancer, changes in hormone levels, decreased fertility, liver and thyroid dysfunction and a reduced immune system.

Since their invention in the 1930s, the chemicals have been used widely for their water-resistant and grease-repellant properties. They can be found in most manufactured products, such as non-stick cookware, clothing, cleaning products, beauty products and food packaging.Unfortunately, their persistence in the environment means they have seeped into our water and food supply, with 99% of people tested showing some level of forever chemicals in their bodies.”Every human on the planet has PFAS in their body,” Dr. Keith Vorst, the Polymer and Food Protection Consortium director at Iowa State University, told Reckon. “Unfortunately, we will never be able to get rid of these chemicals. They are in almost everything and have done a lot of damage. We must start cleaning them up immediately.”

While the Environmental Protection Agency banned a handful of the most-used PFAS chemicals from food packaging and other manufacturing processes in the past, there are as many as 15,000 different types. That has meant researching them thoroughly is challenging.

The EPA recently established new rules requiring water utilities to filter PFAS chemicals from drinking water. Dr. Vorst, whose research focuses on the technical development and safety of food packaging, did not comment specifically on the lawsuit against Prime but suggested that when PFAS levels are extremely high, it may be because of a problem in the manufacturing process.

“It could be that these high levels of PFAS are coming from a contaminated water source,” he said. “If you were to start a bottling company for energy drinks here in Ames, Iowa, you’d be using the municipal water supply that has PFAS several times higher than the EPA’s limits.”

It’s not the first time Prime has attracted attention. In July 2023, U.S. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the company for its marketing tactics and elevated caffeine content.

“PRIME is so new that most parents haven’t a clue about it, but it is born from the reels of social media and the enigmatic world of influencers,” he said in a statement. “Kids see it on their phones or as they scroll, and they actually need it and the problem here is that this product has so much caffeine in it that it puts Red Bull to shame, but unlike Red Bull, this product has one true target market: children under the age of 18, and that is why I am sounding the alarm and asking the FDA to investigate PRIME.”

In his response video, Paul stated the company follows appropriate federal regulations and called into question the methodology used in the lawsuit.

“We don’t think these numbers are factual,” he said.

Prime launched in Jan. 2022 and quickly became one of the most recognizable sports drinks brands on the market, thanks to the popularity of viral YouTube personalities Paul and co-founder KSI, also known as Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji. Major sports teams and groups like Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, the LA Dodgers and the UFC have deals with the company. Prime also has marketing relationships with athletes like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Manchester City’s Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.