But they make them so tempting.
Posted on 02/01/2018 9:15:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
There were 10,570 injuries related to the consumption of laundry packs in 2017.
Tide Pods have been making a lot of headlines lately—but not for their stain-cleaning power.
Instead, the product has gained notoriety for the so-called “Tide Pod Challenge,” a disturbing phenomenon in which people film themselves eating the laundry detergent-filled packets. Needless to say, consuming the pods is not recommended, and eating them can cause a variety of health problems.
Some companies, including several bakeries, have had fun with the strange fad, making donuts that resemble the colorful detergent pods. But not everyone thinks a lighthearted approach to the problem is correct. In fact, one toxic-chemical researcher has gone so far as to suggest that Tide Pods should be banned completely.
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Good Morning America ✔ @GMA Tide denies plan to discontinue liquid packets despite risky 'pod challenge' https://yhoo.it/2Dr0KXv
10:30 AM - Jan 23, 2018 25 25 Replies 16 16 Retweets 37 37 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy Harold Zeliger, a principal at Zeliger Research and Consulting and a consultant with The Expert Institute, recently wrote an op-ed for Fortune that claims the safety measures that Procter & Gamble—the maker of Tide Pods—and other manufacturers, have taken to reduce the likelihood that people will be tempted to eat these products, have been insufficient.
“It’s clear that laundry pods as they currently exist are too dangerous to be sold to the public. If P&G and other manufacturers can’t figure out a way to reduce the more than 10,000 injuries they cause each year, laundry packs need to be taken off the market,” Zeliger wrote in his commentary.
Zeliger cited statistics from the American Association of Poison Control Centers to prove his point that efforts to curb the danger of the pods have failed. The agency reported 10,395 injuries related to the consumption of laundry packs in 2013. The group reported 10,570 such injuries in 2017, meaning there has been no reduction—and actually an increase in injuries—during the past five years.
Zeliger recommended that manufacturers make the pods even more bitter tasting so that people would be forced to spit them out immediately. He also suggested the pods should be less visually appealing, which he said could be achieved by making them all white. He also wrote that giving the pods a less pleasant smell and feel would also make them less attractive to kids and people suffering from dementia.
Others have said a ban on laundry pods is going too far and that individuals deserve the blame for improperly using them. Writing for the American Institute for Economic Research, Chloe Anagnos said, “Although it’s obvious that eating laundry detergent, drinking way too much sugar or consistently throwing away plastic isn’t good for you or the environment, it isn’t the job of the government to tell us what to do or how to live. We need more personal freedom and less government interference.”
For its part, Procter & Gamble said that Tide Pods themselves are not the problem, nor are their design. “That’s not our focus,” Damon Jones, spokesperson for the company, told NPR regarding a potential change in design for the pods. “Our focus right now is educating consumers about the proper and safe use of household products.”
What do you think? Is an outright ban appropriate? Should manufacturers take further steps to make their products safer, or is it up to individuals not to consume products that are not meant to be eaten?
Call me heartless, but the kind of stupid that would eat laundry detergent on a dare... should hurt.
Why do we have to ban everything to protect the stupid?
Stupid people doing stupid things and product liability attorneys seem to have a peculiar symbiosis.
That's what I say. The job of the CEO is to protect the company. Even if the people are stupid, you don't want the public to see people dying from your product and negative attention. It was Tylenol's fault that an evil person put cyanide in their aspirin, but their proactive response is still studied in business school today. If you wait too long, these things can get out of control. If you handle it the right way, you will gain esteem in the public's eyes.
That’s an understatement.
Shape/color them like fecal pellets and coat them with bitrex with just a hint of methyl-mercaptan, fill with a nauseating gelatinous ooze, problem solved.
Laundry and Morale officer isn’t an easy job for a lowly ensign ...
But the crew is antsy and the sea is restless tonight my FRiend.
These soap pods are very cleansing of the Gene Pool. What is the problem.
Actually there are two ways to solve the problem without killing the stupids.
1. Load them with Apo Morphine. It is not a narcotic but will put them into projectile vomiting in short order.
2. Soak the outside with ghost pepper extract. They will spit it out I assure you.
Personally I think we should allow the stupid little morons to kill themselves.
How about we ban busybodies instead.
The companies are leaving themselves open to big lawsuits because it can be argued A. They knew of the risk of consumer misuse and B. The packaging itself was similar to an attractive nuisance.
Now I don’t blame the companies but they would do well to redesign the packaging and make the contents inpalatable. Mostly for the safety of younger children who are not on the stupid bandwagon but may just thing the pods look like a treat.
More elderly then kids died from these. It does look like a treat.
I had not realized that. Thanks for the information.
Trying to idiot-proof the world for the idiots.
I say, unless we want to live in a real life "Idiocracy" where the dolts have out bred the average intelligence people, we have to start removing the warning labels and let Mother Nature weed out the "too-stupid-to-breath fellow citizens.
And no, I'n NOT kidding.
>>Instead, the product has gained notoriety for the so-called “Tide Pod Challenge,” a disturbing phenomenon in which people film themselves eating the laundry detergent-filled packets.
FAKE NEWS
The majority (if not all) of those “Filming” themselves (on video) “eating” Tide Pods are pranking viewers.
There may be gullible or stoned viewers who “take” the dare but it is a minority subset of the “craze”.
It’s like the people pretending to be flat earthers or claiming to not know Paul McCartney was a Beatle.
People play dumb online for laffs and it is not a new thing.
But they make them so tempting.
>>Facebook and YouTube ban conservative videos but not videos of people making themselves ill from eating laundry detergent.
The same sort of people who’d claim with a straight face to have eaten Tide Pods will also tell you that no one in politics is more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Rotten Clinton.
Leave the “chlorine” in the gene pool where it can do some good.....
P&G is grossly irresponsible to package laundry detergent to look like candy.
But no new law is needed, just a lawsuit from a harmed party.
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