When it comes to challenges, teenagers have seemingly come up with everything. From competitively choking down a spoonful of cinnamon, to speed-chugging a gallon of milk to see who vomits first, there could not possibly be anything worse…right?

Enter the Tide Pod Challenge.

The challenge, which involves eating the small colorful pouches of laundry detergent, originally started as a viral meme late last fall. But thanks to popularity on social media, the hype surrounding the challenge has blown up. Today, the repercussions have been several flagged posts on YouTube, hospitalizations and advisories from Poison Control Centers across the U.S.

Jen Shiring, nurse director of Student Health Services at Waynesburg University, first noticed the phenomenon of eating Tide Pods from children accidentally consuming the products due to their candy-like appearance.

“I used to work at Children’s Hospital and there would be a lot of kids coming in from eating things like bleach and different cleaners,” Shiring said. “But they were little kids and they didn’t know any better. Grown teenagers and adults should know better.”

According to reporting done by the Washington Post, there have been at least 37 reported cases of teenagers eating the detergent pouches, with over half of them being intentional.

To Shiring, this is a simple case of teenage acceptance.

“For teenagers, there is a developmental time period where they want to be socially accepted and cool, but sometimes that can turn into disaster,” Shiring said. “For the teenagers that do the Tide Pod Challenge, it could very well be that teenage age bracket where you think you’re invincible and nothing is going to happen to you, but people are going to the hospital and dying over it.”

Both children and adults who have been exposed to the capsules have been hospitalized with vomiting, breathing difficulties and loss of consciousness, and eight children under the age of five have died, according to the Washington Post.

As for students at Waynesburg University, Shiring hopes that age and common sense allows them to know better.

“Be smart and don’t do it,” Shiring said. “If you’re not using Tide Pods for your laundry, they’re too expensive, especially for college students.”

If you or someone you know has eaten a Tide Pod, drink a glass of water or milk and call the national poison help hotline at 1-800-222-1222 or text POISON to 797979 to save the number in
your phone.