Eating laundry pods a dangerous social media fad

Why anyone in the world would deliberately post a video of themselves placing a poisonous laundry pod in their mouth to bite into is beyond belief.  Known as the “Tide pod challenge” this is the latest unfortunate social media fad to hit the internet.  Let this be a common sense reminder to all of us of the dangers of this foolish stunt.

What started out as a joke has taken it too far as individuals, mainly teens and young adults, are willing to take a dare to place the pod in their mouth biting into it.  Mare Buerkle, acting-Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has stated that ingesting the liquid of the pods carries a deadly risk.

Laundry pods have been a new formulation of a highly concentrated laundry detergent since around 2013.  However, poison control centers across the country have noticed an increase in calls, especially from families with young children who have ingested part or the entire laundry pod, making them very ill.  Other children have gotten the product in their eyes, resulting in significant eye irritation.

The exact concoction of a laundry pod is proprietary but they generally consist of ethanol, hydrogen peroxide and what chemists call “long-chain polymers.”  This mix of chemicals does wonders for cleaning dirt and grime from clothing but is not meant to be ingested by humans.  The mix of these chemicals can burn through the lining of a person’s mouth and stomach.  This same burning will continue to your esophagus and other parts of a person’s digestive system.  Vomiting will likely be induced so much so as to risk aspirating it into the lungs.  Explosive diarrhea is another side effect due to the fact that stool softeners – medication used for people who are constipated – also are made up of long-chain polymers.

Proctor and Gamble, the maker of “Tide” products has repeatedly warned consumers that the pods are not meant to play with or ingest.  Part of the problem of these pods is that they have been designed to be brightly colored, almost resembling candy making them appealing especially to children. A least 10 deaths have been linked to ingesting the pods, two were children and the other eight were seniors with dementia.

The company has warned that if the detergent is swallowed, a person should drink water or milk and contact poison control. 

The most common symptoms of laundry pod ingestions are the following:

·      Vomiting

·      Mouth/throat irritation and coughing

·      Drowsiness/coma

·      Respiratory difficulty

Between 2013 and 2014, more than 62,000 children under the age of six were exposed to laundry and dishwasher pod detergents.  Consumer Reports no longer recommends detergent packets to be used as they pose a “unique risk.”

Buerkle has been working with manufacturers to design the pods to make them look less attractive to children by making them opaque and less colorful.  They have also recommended reducing the toxicity and the strength of the laundry pod detergents. Since the danger is so high to young children, researchers recommend parents should not buy laundry pods and to use instead regular liquid detergent.