Do you remember the first time your parents said to you, “if your friends all jumped off of a bridge would you do it too?”
These teenagers are the ones jumping off the bridge.
In the latest installment of ridiculously idiotic internet trends, allow us to introduce the #TidePodChallenge.
Cue eye roll.
This time around teenagers are eating Tide Pods, and posting the videos online. Add it to the long list of exceedingly dumb challenges we’ve stumbled upon in recent years.
It started as a joke in a satirical Onion article, narrated from the perspective of a child lured by the enticing candy-looking pods. As it turns out, eating the blue and orange pods causes serious harm – and in some cases death.
The National Capital Poison Center warns that laundry pods are posing an unexpected problem for young children who bite into them, causing injury and even death. Adults with dementia are also at risk of mistakenly ingesting the poisonous pods. A 2017 report says two children and six adults with cognitive impairment have died in the past five years from ingesting the pods.
Nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Reports says between 2012 and 2017, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported over 38,000 cases of people suffering from exposure, whether that came from ingesting, inhaling, getting it in their eyes, or absorbing it through their skin.
It shouldn’t need to be said, and yet again here we are. Don’t go putting a Tide Pod in your mouth.
Seriously.
The pods have a list of ingredients that are toxic to humans, including polymers and linear alkylbenzene sulfonate.
Tide has an entire page dedicated to the safe handling of its products and advises to immediately call the doctor and drink a glass of water or milk if a product is swallowed. Do not induce vomit.
If you or someone you know has eaten a laundry detergent pod, call the National Poison Control hotline at 1-800-222-1222.
We're still not sure how widespread the challenge is, but the Internet is certainly abuzz with its ridiculousness.
Check it out for yourself if you don’t believe us.
[H/T: USA Today]
