Eating dirt is called pica. It’s a mental health condition. But eating  a laundry pod is not called anything but stupid! You heard me, the new thing? Try biting into one of those blue and red  laundry pods for fun! I’m not understanding it, but apparently around 100,000 teens thought it was funny before the video craziness was removed.

We’ve seen a lot of trends come and go, but this one is dangerous. Teens are challenging each other to eat a pod. It’s become a thing on social media and has gone viral. Yes, teens are recording themselves chomping into a laundry pod…ahhh for fun? Not sure what the fun factor is here!

We’ve heard news reports of toddlers getting ahold of  laundry pods, eating them because they thought they were candy. But teens aren’t making that mistake. This is purposeful.

Actually, this is not a completely new trend.  In 2015, the parody website, The Onion, reportedly did a spoof on eating the pods. Last year, CollegeHumor produced a video of students eating pods and 3 million hits later, people thought it was funny. A trend was born.

Here is what is not so funny. Those laundry pods are full of toxic stuff that can make you sick. Eating a pod can cause vomiting, diarrhea and breathing difficulties. This is a poisonous substance and not to be eaten!

What cleans your clothes can do damage to your body! In fact, 8 deaths have been reported from pod eating since 2012 through 2017. And the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) report more calls due to this trend since the beginning of this new year.

If you think you or a friend have been poisoned, call the national poison help hotline at 1-800-222-1222 or text POISON to 797979.

And it is this simple. Don’t eat the pods and find another way to amuse yourself. I know teens like to do crazy things and take risks, but let’s try to find something that isn’t going to lead to the emergency department of your local hospital.