Protecting Your Health One Pod at a Time

Laundry detergent pods have become the focus of the latest social media challenge.

Gage Ruark

Laundry detergent pods have become the focus of the latest social media challenge.

Gage Ruark, Activities Editor

As the years go by, the trend of social media challenges continue to become more and more popular. Some may remember the ALS ice bucket challenge, or the more viral cinnamon challenge.

However a new hazardous challenge has hit social media recently, known as the Tide Pod challenge. The challenge consist of an individual videotaping themselves attempting to  consuming a Tide brand laundry detergent pod.

The problem with this viral challenge is the hazardous chemicals that are contained in these pods. A small amount of individuals who have participated in this new challenge, have died.

A single pod consist of three chemicals; a highly concentrated detergent, a stain remover and a color protector. All of these chemicals are harmful to your body and clearly stated on the container that these should not be consumed by a person of any age.

“It’s crazy what kids will try these days,” says Mike Carter, physician assistant at the Labette Health Clinic in Saint Paul. “Ingesting the chemicals that the pods contain are highly dangerous for you, but its hard for doctors to know how to address and treat a patient when new things like these come up.”

There is a warning label on the back of every container giving information on what to do if a person is to have these chemicals in their system.

“Personally, what I would do is make sure the individual is stable before anything else, make sure they have a breathable airway and then I would call poison control and follow their steps from there,” said Carter. “However if there was anything about this that I could say is just don’t do it, it’s very dangerous for your health and overall a very stupid thing to do.”