Foolish fad can kill you

It’s absurd that people have to be told not to eat laundry pods. Yes, we get that the original absurdity of the internet meme – joking about eating things that clearly aren’t meant to be eaten, like laundry pods – is meant to be funny, not taken seriously.

But, as something called the Tide pod challenge — which dares teens to film themselves munching on a laundry pod made by that company and post it online — has shown that at least some young people, being natural risktakers, have been willing to take a bite.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported 39 cases of teens intentionally eating laundry pods in the first half of January so far this year. That’s way up from 53 such cases all of last year and 39 in 2016.

It’s no laughing matter. Laundry pods often contain poisonous compounds like hydrogen peroxide, ethanol and soap (long chain polymers) that can burn the mouth and digestive system or cause respiratory distress if inhaled.

The foolish fad has caused enough alarm that Youtube and Facebook have been deleting such videos.

Though the so-called challenge has been grabbing headlines, the groups at greatest risk of being poisoned by the brightly-coloured laundry pods have been seniors with dementia and children under age five.

Manufacturers have added safety latches and a bitter film to pods’ surfaces, but critics rightly say pods still look like candy to a young child or cognitively-challenged adult.

So the question remains: Why must they be so colourful?