P&G fighting Tide pod challenge

NEW YORK — Procter & Gamble says it’s working to stop the “Tide Pod challenge,” a social media-fueled trend in which teenagers eat single-load laundry detergent packets.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers warned this month that it had seen a spike in teenagers eating the detergent pods, which it says can cause seizures, respiratory arrest and even death.

CEO David Taylor trend “dangerous” called the and “extremely concerning” in an online post. He said the company is working with social media companies to remove videos of people biting into the detergent, and asked adults to speak with children about the hazards.

“Let them know that their life and health matter more than clicks, views and likes,” Taylor said.

In the first 15 days of the year, poison control centers said that they have handled 39 cases of intentional misuse among 13- to 19-year-olds. Poison control centers handled 53 such cases last year.

P&G has faced safety issues with Tide Pods before. Shortly after it introduced the product in 2012, the firm announced it would create a double-latch lid to deter young children from accessing and eating the packets.

To deter teenagers, P&G released a 20-second video of football player Rob Gronkowski earlier this month telling viewers not to ingest the pods.

“What the heck is going on, people?” he said in the video. “Use Tide Pods for washing, not eating.”