Gronk Tells Children, Teens Not To Eat Tide PODs

What should Tide PODs be used for? DOING LAUNDRY. Nothing else.

Eating a Tide POD is a BAD IDEA, and we asked our friend @robgronkowski to help explain. pic.twitter.com/0JnFdhnsWZ

— Tide (@tide) January 12, 2018

The football superstar was referring to a new online challenge that encourages children and teenagers to record themselves eating a Tide POD.

“Do not eat!” Gronk yells, sounding like a scolding parent. “Use Tide PODs for washing, not eating.”

He wags his finger back and forth at the camera and repeatedly says, “no,” when asked whether “eating Tide PODs is ever a good idea.”

As of 10:45 p.m., the video was viewed more than 200,000 times.

Tide noted that the laundry packs are “highly concentrated detergent meant only to clean clothes.”

The American Association of Poison Control Centers has reported that ingesting the laundry detergent packets can be harmful to humans, especially children.

“Some children who have gotten the product in their mouths have had excessive vomiting, wheezing and gasping,” according to the organization. “Some get very sleepy. Some have had breathing problems serious enough to need a ventilator to help them breathe. There have also been reports of corneal abrasions (scratches to the eyes) when the detergent gets into a child’s eyes.”

A 2014 study by the National Poison Data System noted that children younger than 3 years old accounted for 73.5 percent of exposures, with more than 100 patients requiring tracheal intubations. There was also one confirmed death.

“Other serious clinical effects included coma, seizures, pulmonary edema, respiratory arrest, corneal abrasion, and ocular burns,” according to the report.

The AAPCC said to call 1-800-222-1222 if anyone swallows laundry detergent.