Chroming. This is the new craze on social media, especially TikTok, among minors, but it can be fatal.
The latest case is that of 11-year-old Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington from the United Kingdom, who participated in the challenge with a friend in Lancaster and died instantly after a heart attack.
“He died instantly after a night out at a friend’s house. The boys had tried the TikTok craze ‘chroming’. Tommie-Lee immediately went into cardiac arrest. The hospital did everything to revive him, but nothing worked. He had gone. He had a heart of gold like his father. Our family is completely devastated,” said the boy’s grandmother, Tina Burns.
The 11-year-old’s family believes TikTok should “do more” to keep users safe, even shut down to prevent the deaths of other children, according to the New York Post.
“We actually want TikTok to be abolished and no child under the age of 16 should be allowed to be on any social media. We want to help save other children’s lives and raise awareness for families to keep their children safe,” Ms Burns said.
φωτ: Facebook/Graham Billington
TikTok has been criticized for promoting dangerous trends among teenagers. During a hearing in January the leaders of four prominent social media platforms – including Facebook and Instagram’s Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok’s Shuu Choo – were questioned by the US Senate Judiciary Committee about the security of their platforms.
That hearing was part of the effort to pass the “Safe Kids Online Act,” which would require social media companies to take aggressive actions to target dangerous behavior on their platforms.
What is Chroming
In Chroming, teenagers inhale fumes from common household items, such as aerosols, acetone (nail polish remover), paint thinners and cleaning products, to “make” themselves, while filming the process and the results.
This strain can cause severe brain damage, suffocation, cardiac arrest, and more with just one puff.
Anthony Pizon, who specializes in toxicology, explains at UPMC why this particular practice is so dangerous. “It’s about inhaling all kinds of hydrocarbons. Substances such as metallic paints contain a certain hydrocarbon that can have an intoxicating effect on the body,” he said.
He continued: “Typically, the particular hydrocarbon that people look for in metallic paints is something called toluene, which is intoxicating. The harm varies depending on how they take it to inhale,” he says.
Abuse can have short-term and long-term health effects, and can even be fatal. Short-term effects include suffocation, cardiac arrest, choking, coma, convulsions or seizures, suffocation or injury.
“If you’re not careful, especially when using a bag, you can run out of oxygen and essentially die of suffocation. You are really putting yourself at risk. It can have really devastating effects,” says the doctor.
#Chroming #TikTok #challenge #kills #11yearold #dead
