Recently, a new “challenge” has been formed know simply as the “Tide Pod Challenge” in which the participants put the detergent pods into their mouths, sometimes even chew them and then post videos of what happens, because of course, that is what people should do in their free time. If it was not already news to you, let me inform those of you who are reading this article of the fact that Tide Pods are not meant for consumption. No form of laundry detergent is meant for human consumption, for that matter. It seems, however, that the internets thirst for trending hashtags and viral videos has caused people to completely ignore the warning labels and risk their health, if not their life.
Originally, manufacturers had been concerned about toddlers mistakenly ingesting them, but now teens are consuming them on purpose and posting videos of the results online. A highly toxic mix of ingredients exists in Tide Pods that, if ingested, can lead to life-threatening breathing problems, corrosive damage to the esophagus, internal burns, changes in blood pressure, gastrointestinal issues and neurological symptoms, including loss of consciousness. The precise number of deaths related to the Tide pod challenge is difficult to measure, however, due to their unprecedented growth in popularity, there has been an increasing number of injuries have been linked to their ingestion. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported that there were 10,570 cases of detergent exposure reported to poison centers in 2017 that involved children five and younger. In the first fifteen days of 2018, there had been nearly forty reported cases of 13-to-19-year-olds being exposed to liquid detergent pods.That is twenty percent of the total number of similar incidents in all of 2017, only within the first two weeks of the year.
Tide has been conducting damage control ever since this new fad has gained popularity. A spokesperson for Tide told ABC News that the company is deeply troubled about the trend and stressed the fact that the pods should only be used for laundry in their statement. “Laundry packets are made to clean clothes. They should not be played with, whatever the circumstance, even if meant as a joke.” Tide even released a video enlisting the help of New England Patriots tight end, Rob Gronkowski to convey their message. Google (who owns YouTube) and Facebook both announced on 18 January that they are removing any Tide Pod Challenge videos from their platforms because they promote dangerous actions. Ann Marie Buerkle, acting chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says her group has been working with manufacturers to make the packets less attractive to children. “Making the laundry packet opaque, less attractive, less colorful, reducing the toxicity and the strength of laundry detergent,” Buerkle said. While this is may help with accidental ingestion by children, it may not do much in the terms of intentional consumption by adolescents.
Anyone who is concerned about the risks of laundry pods can acquire more information from the American Association of Poison Control Centers. If you are in need urgent help, call the poison control center hotline at 1-800-222-1222 and take the person to the emergency room immediately. Lastly, if something was not originally produced with the intent for human consumption, then in the words of Philip Defranco, “Don’t be stupid, Stupid!”
