The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is urging against a new troubling TikTok trend that involves cooking a chicken in Nyquil.CHRISTOF STACHE/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Food and Drug administration is warning against cooking chicken in over-the-counter drugs, after a viral TikTok “sleepy chicken” challenge urged millions of viewers to cook chicken in Nyquil.
Viral dares encouraging youth to eat laundry detergent pods and swallow spoonfuls of cinnamon may seem like a thing of the past. But as popular TikTok videos push users toward cooking chicken in medication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reminding us that kids are still easily susceptible to social media challenges.
“One social media trend relying on peer pressure is online video clips of people misusing non-prescription medications and encouraging viewers to do so too. These video challenges, which often target youths, can harm people – and even cause death,” the FDA warned.
Why cooking chicken in Nyquil is dangerous
The challenge sounds unappetizing – and it is. But the FDA said just boiling a chicken in Nyquil, which contains acetaminophen, dextromethorphan and doxylamine, can make people sick and damage their lungs. This is because boiling some medications can make them much more concentrated, and can change their properties, the administration said.
“Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapours while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body,” the FDA added. “Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it.”
Cinnamon, hot pepper and Tide-pod challenges: A history of bad ideas
Viral challenges have held a distinct fascination among the world’s youth, prompting warnings about accidental poisonings for over a decade.
Two years ago, another TikTok challenge encouraged viewers to take large quantities of Benadryl, saying it would make them hallucinate. But after several reports surfaced of teenagers who had tried the challenge overdosing, ending up in emergency rooms, and in some cases dying, the FDA sent out a warning about the dangers of high doses of antihistamines.
These internet challenges reached a peak in 2012, but are becoming popular again. The infamous “Tide-pod” YouTube challenge of 2012 saw dozens of Canadian children admitted to hospital with poisoning from the detergent pods, likely after putting them in their mouths.
That same year, the rise of the “cinnamon” challenge prompted adults as well as kids to spit, sputter and ultimately fail as they tried to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon without water for one minute. In one case, a teenage girl in Michigan ended up spending four days in the hospital with a collapsed lung and infection after falling unconscious from attempting the challenge.
And who could forget the “hot pepper” challenge, in which a 47-year-old man ended up in hospital because he ruptured his esophagus after eating a Ghost pepper?
How to keep your children safe
To keep children from participating in these kinds of challenges, the FDA is advising that parents and caregivers keep prescription and over-the-counter drugs locked up.
Communication is also key, the FDA said. “Sit down with your children and discuss the dangers of misusing drugs and how social media trends can lead to real, sometimes irreversible, damage,” they said. “Remind your children that overdoses can occur with [over-the-counter] drugs as well as with prescription drugs.”
With reports from Carly Weeks and Tralee Pearce.