Teens Are Eating Tide Laundry Pods For The Internet Culture

Desire Thompson
Updated
Jesus be a fence.

By Desire Thompson

Internet challenges have been heartwarming and inspiring, but one challenge has left a bad taste in parent’s mouths.

An online trend called the “Tide Pod Challenge” has teens filming themselves biting into Tide Laundry Pods and posting their reactions. CBS News sites ingredients in the pods are ethanol, hydrogen peroxide and polymers, helpful for erasing dirt, but fatal if ingested. The laundry tablets were reintroduced to consumers by way of the Proctor & Gamble company in 2012. Between the launch and 2014, concerns were raised about the physicality of the pods since toddlers were accidentally digesting them. Changes were made to the pods and the packaging after ten people died from the pods; two were children and eight were elderly people battling dementia.

Despite the changes, teens are still willingly putting their bodies in harms way. “A lot of people were just saying how stupid I was or how – why would I be willing to do that,” Marc Pagan, 19, said. The teen admitted he did it on a dare. “No one should be putting anything like that in their mouths, you know?”

Apparently teens are eating laundry pods in a new social media 'challenge' called the #TidePodChallenge – Medical experts say the consequences are dire. ARE MEMES TO BLAME?!? Online “memes” feature photos depicting the laundry pods as a pizza topping or breakfast cereal. Videos posted on Twitter appear to show people biting into the detergent pacs and spitting them out. Online users joke about how "tasty" the pods look… even calling them the "forbidden fruit."

A post shared by WJXT4 The Local Station (@news4jax) on Jan 10, 2018 at 12:51pm PST

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bd3PyiGgipU/

Teens are eating laundry pods in new social media challenge #FACTS JAN. 11, 2018. It’s a social media trend that could quickly turn deadly. Teens are putting #laundrypods into their mouths as part of the “ #TidePodChallenge ,” and if the contents are ingested, the results could land your child or teen in the hospital. The “ #TidePod Challenge” involves teens #eating laundry detergent pods raw or, in some cases, cooking them before eating them. #ConsumerReports released information showing just how deadly doing this can be for adults with dementia and children younger than five. But that doesn’t mean teens are safe. #USAToday reported that last year, poison control centers received more than 10,000 reports of children five years old or younger ingesting the pods. Dr. Alfred Aleguas Jr., the managing director for Florida’s Poison Information Center, told USA Today that swallowing “even a small amount of the highly-concentrated detergent…can cause diarrhea and vomiting.” In some cases, the detergent could even migrate to the lungs, causing breathing problems. Tide has been proactive in keeping their products safe, childproof, and keeping the public informed. In a video uploaded to their official YouTube channel, #Tide shows just how easy it can be to keep the pods away from your children. #NINFONETWORK #FOODNINFO #VEHICLENINFO #ENTERTAINMENTNINFO #FOODANDWINE #FOODNETWORK #BUZZFEED #HUFFPOSTASTE #BUZZFEEDFOOD #LOL #STUPID #MEMES #FUNNY #CNN #CNBC #LONDON #ENEWS #VANITYFAIR #USWEEKLY #OKMAGAZINE

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Proctor and Gamble released a statement condemning the challenge. “They should not be played with,” the statement reads. “Even if meant as a joke. Safety is no laughing matter.”

This post Teens Are Eating Tide Laundry Pods For The Internet Culture first appeared on Vibe.