“Sleepy Chicken Challenge”

 

Just when you think that the youth of today will overcome yesterday’s transgressions of their parents’ generation and lead humanity to a better future tomorrow, a headline like this comes along suggesting the apple may not fall far from the tree:

FDA Warns Against Cooking Chicken in NyQuil

 

Carolyn Crist has the lede:

The FDA has issued a warning against cooking chicken in NyQuil after a social media challenge that encouraged people to try it went viral.

 

Seriously?

Called the “sleepy chicken challenge,” the trend tells people to cook chicken in NyQuil or similar over-the-counter cough and cold medications, which include ingredients such as acetaminophen, dextromethorphan and doxylamine.

“The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing – and it is. But it could also be very unsafe,” the FDA said. “Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways.”

Even if someone doesn’t plan to eat the chicken, inhaling the vapors of the medication while it cooks could cause high levels of the drug to enter the body.

 

Kids swallowing laundry detergent for the “Tide Pod Challenge” was risky enough.  We’ve cringed watching the “Salt and Ice Challenge” and the “Eraser Challenge” leaving scars on youngsters’ skin. Remember the “Cinnamon Challenge” and the safer but still silly “Saltine Cracker Challenge”? How about the “Momo Challenge” — “the ‘creepy and dangerous game sweeping through social media platforms’ that attracts child predators, erases boundaries of online privacy, and encourages acts of self-harm, and, in this case, suicide”?

With the “Sleepy Chicken Challenge” garnering headlines, the American Academy of Pediatrics explained last week why teenagers are susceptible to social media challenges that can cause serious injuries and poisonings, and even risk death:

Teens’ brains are still developing. The part of the brain that handles rational thought, the prefontal cortex, is not fully developed until the mid-20s. This means teens are naturally more impulsive and likely to act before thinking through all of the ramifications.

Social media rewards outrageous behavior, and the more outrageous, the bigger the bragging rights. It’s a quick moving, impulsive environment, and the fear of losing out is real for teens. That environment plays into a teen’s underdeveloped ability to think through their actions and possible consequences.

Kids won’t necessarily stop to consider that laundry detergent is a poison that can burn their throats and damage their airways. Or that misusing medications like diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and similar medicines can cause serious heart problems, seizures and coma. What they will focus on is that a popular kid in class did this and got hundreds of likes and comments.

 

The FDA calls social media trends like these — and the “Sleepy Chicken Challenge” in particular — a “recipe for danger”.

Social media trends and peer pressure can be a dangerous combination to your children and their friends, especially when involving misusing medicines.

One social media trend relying on peer pressure is online video clips of people misusing nonprescription medications and encouraging viewers to do so too. These video challenges, which often target youths, can harm people — and even cause death.

Nonprescription (also called over-the-counter or OTC) drugs are readily available in many homes, making these challenges even more risky. OTC drugs can pose significant risks if they’re misused or abused.

 

There are many ways to cook a chicken. Let’s keep NyQuil off the kids’ menu, shall we?

 

(Google Images)

 

source http://www.thepediablog.com/2022/09/29/sleepy-chicken-challenge/