Parents pleading with teens to stop eating washing machine tablets

We're utterly confused by this.

Teenagers around the world are being urged to stop eating washing tablets after a new online challenge has gone viral. The 'challenge' sees teens burst, chew, eat and even cook the tablets and it's starting to worry doctors and parents.

Teens nowadays won’t eat gluten but they’ll eat Tide pods ?

— Bridget (@GoBlueHail) January 12, 2018

The bizarre craze started last year when a student was filmed eating the colorful detergents, however the challenge's popularity has soared over the past month, with more and more videos appearing online. A teenager, who did not want to be named, told Buzzfeed that she first heard about the 'Tide Pod Challenge' in a WhatsApp group dedicated to viral challenges.

I'm not even surprised people are eating tide pods at this point

— bloodofwolves (@LilPoorcelain) January 12, 2018

Hey let's all relax with the Tide Pods eating challenges...

— Eh Bee Family (@EhBeeFamily) January 11, 2018

"I wasn't scared because I knew I wasn't going to swallow it," she said. "Just bite into it. And I washed my mouth out for quite some time afterwards." In a statement, the tablet company Tide, said: "Our laundry pacs are a highly concentrated detergent meant to clean clothes … They should not be played with, whatever the circumstance is, even if meant as a joke." If you have a teenager, make sure they're not taking part in this dangerous trend.