Four Pelham Students Hospitalized After Drinking Detergent

PELHAM, AL - Four Pelham High School students were taken to a Birmingham hospital Thursday after they reportedly drank laundry detergent mixed with water. The incident occurred sometime between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Two of the students were taken by ambulance, and two were taken via private vehicle or by their parents. All have since been released.

Pelham City Schools Public Information Officer Nicole Knight told WIAT the school system is still investigating the details surrounding the incident, which is consistent with a strange phenomenon among young people wherein they are "dared" to ingest Tide detergent pods. This has been dubbed the "Tide Pod Challenge."

Supposedly, the dangerous trend stems from a post on the satirical website The Onion picturing a little boy under the headline "So Help Me God, I'm Going To Eat One Of Those Multicolored Detergent Pods." The tongue-in-cheek post followed a report from the American Association of Poison Control Centers that the laundry packets pose a serious risk to children. The craze gained more traction last March with College Humor's "Don't Eat the Laundry Pods," which shows a college student trying to resist the colorful packets, then gorging himself before ending up on an emergency backboard.

Knight told WIAT she does not know if the students will be disciplined or not.

Photo from Pelham City Schools