As part of a TikTok challenge, a 13-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, overd0sed on at least a dozen Benadryl pills. A local ABC affiliate in Columbus, Ohio stated that friends of Jacob Stevens filmed him as he attempted the challenge, which involves consuming enough medic@tions to produce hallucinations, and then began having seizures.
According to ABC’s reporting, Stevens was hospitalized and kept alive on a ventilator for six days before he passed away. According to Justin Stevens, his father, this was the “worst day of my life.”
There have been previous instances of viral challenges becoming fatal. For years, TikTok has been the primary platform for spreading dangerous internet fads like the milk crate challenge and the blackout challenge, both of which prompted FDA warnings, fatalities, and lawsuits.
According to Justin Stevens’s interview with ABC, the Stevens family is warning other parents about the hazards of these types of TikTok challenges and is lobbying politicians to establish age restrictions on medication like Benadryl. He also suggested that perhaps TikTok itself should be restricted to users over a certain age.
Justin Stevens said-
“Keep an eye on what your kids doing with that phone, talk to ’em about, you know, the situation. I want everybody to know about my son’s situation.”
Benadryl issued a warning on its website, stating that its product should be taken only as intended and that the company is collaborating with TikTok to delete videos in which the dr*g is misused. The FDA issued its own warning about the trend in September 2020.
The FDA said-
Taking too much Benadryl can “lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death.”
In a statement, TikTok said:
“Our deepest sympathies go out to the family. At TikTok, we strictly prohibit and remove content that promotes dangerous behavior with the safety of our community as a priority. We have never seen this type of content trend on our platform and have blocked searches for years to help discourage copycat behavior. “
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