People are eating Tide Pods, and it’s not safe

It seems every few weeks another challenge takes social media by storm.

Some, like the Ice Bucket Challenge, promote a cause. Others, like the bottle-flipping craze, are benign. But then there are those fads that are illinformed or, worse, dangerous.

The latest, the ‘‘Tide Pod challenge,” involves biting down on a brightly colored laundry detergent packet — an act that poses serious health risks.

YouTube and Facebook said they will remove material showing people who have recorded themselves performing the challenge. Tide released a video in which Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots discouraged the practice.

The origins and inspiration of the challenge are murky, but jokes have circulated online about the temptation of a product that is known to be dangerous but that bears a resemblance to brightly colored candy.

Fads like the Tide challenge lend themselves to exaggeration. In this case, however, data suggests a shift in recent weeks, particularly among teenagers.

In the first half of January, poison control centers handled 39 cases in which teenagers were intentionally exposed to the detergent packets. That was as many as in all of 2016, the American Association of Poison Control Centers said. Last year, poison control centers handled 53 such cases, the group said in a news release.

The problem is more serious for young children. Last year, centers received 10,570 reports of children 5 or younger being exposed to the packets, the group said. Details on the severity of the injuries were unavailable.