Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog

A new danger has emerged in vape shops and at gas stations and corner stores. Health officials warn that a concentrated kratom byproduct called 7-OH is being produced and marketed in ways that appeal to kids, and can be bought easily, even though it is believed to have effects and impacts similar to those of opioids. The 7-OH products are available to consumers in a range of forms and packages such as candy, fruit-flavored gummies, ice cream cones, drink mixes and shots, and tablets. Officials worry these products may represent the next stage of the opioid crisis. The FDA has  taken steps to get 7-OH restricted. If you or your child was harmed by 7-OH, you should call the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group. Billions have been recovered in product liability lawsuits around the country with which we’ve been involved.

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On July 29, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) let consumers know that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking steps to try to stop the availability of 7-OH. There’s been a recommendation to restrict some of the products that contain 7-OH under the Controlled Substances Act, for instance. Further, the FDA has provided consumers with educational materials, health care providers with a letter, and a scientific assessment that indicates people can develop opioid addiction when they use 7-OH products repeatedly or over a long time. The FDA has also sent warning letters to various businesses for illegal marketing of products containing the addictive substance.

7-OH, which appeared in products starting around 2023, is also referred to as 7-hydroxymitragynine, 7-hydroxy, 7-OHMG, 7-HMG, and 7. It is one of two psychoactive components that occurs naturally in kratom, which is a plant whose leaves were sold for medicinal and recreational purposes throughout the 2000s. There are only small quantities of 7-OH in kratom, but the products that are sold in cape shops have significant quantities of 7-OH; it’s believed that synthetic steps are taken to change another psychoactive component of kratom, one that exists in greater quantities, into 7-OH.

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The Trump Administration has proposed elimination of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a bipartisan independent agency created by Congress that handles numerous product safety questions. An elimination of the agency would take crucial data-driven safety rules that protect people around the country from dangerous and defective products and immediately leave those rules vulnerable to political aims. The CPSC’s own 2026 budget request to Congress was the vehicle for the proposal of both agency elimination and an alarming reduction in consumer safety funding and staffing. This budget request, as well as an earlier leak of Administration documents that revealed a plan to get rid of the CPSC, have been strongly condemned by the Consumer Federation of America and other groups. There is still recourse if you or a loved one was injured by a defective or dangerous product. You should consult the seasoned product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group to determine whether you have a viable claim. Billions have been recovered in lawsuits with which we’ve been involved.

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The CPSC budget request proposes that CPSC functions be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Meanwhile, the HHS is also experiencing a dramatic reduction in both funding and workforce. There have been layoffs, grant cancellations, and disruptions to public health programs around the country. In its criticism of the budget request for elimination, the Consumer Federation stated that it was fantastical to think that a new assistant secretary position could effectively utilize HHS administrative and support functions in the face of HHS’s huge budget cuts. The budget request, it says, will impair the ability to discover, respond to, and ultimately stop dangerous products from entering homes.

There are also 121 consumer advocacy groups that have called on Congress to reject the plan to collapse CPSC into HHS on the grounds that moving the agency could delay and weaken oversight, including the taking of important safety actions around dangerous products. The groups have asked Congress to maintain CPSC’s independence in the interests of household safety, and they’ve also asked Congress to fully fund the original fiscal year 2026 budget request from CPSC rather than follow the transfer plan. With the funds from the original budget request, the CPSC could conduct detailed investigations of emerging dangers, inform the public more clearly about safety problems, modernize its outdated technologies, stop dangerous items at ports of entry, and improve enforcement of product safety laws.

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