Officials are warning parents about a TikTok challenge after ten children were sent to a hospital for treatment at an elementary school in Massachusetts.
The incident resulted in a massive reaction from first responders to the Dexter Park School on Tuesday in the city of Orange in the western part of the state.
A student apparently brought extremely spicy gum to the school and gave it to others during recess.
Orange Fire Chief James Young Jr. said the gum was rated at about 16 million Scoville heat units, which is a measurement of the pungency of spices.
“Which is equivalent to basically what’s commonly referred to as pepper spray, so a very spicy or hot agent that the kids were exposed to,” Young said. “It can cause skin irritation, as well as respiratory and airway inflammation.”
Officials believe the student brought the gum to the school because it has become popular as a part of a social media challenge on TikTok.
Amelia Dynice, a parent of a student at the school, said she was shocked to find out the gum was available on Amazon.
“That’s scary,” said Dynice. “Shouldn’t be able to buy that on Amazon.”
The superintendent of the school said that they were investigating the incident and that appropriate “disciplinary action” would be taken at the end of their probe.
Young said parents should speak to their children about these kinds of incidents.
“Kids are curious and they are going to investigate things like this, but not to bring things like this to school,” he said.
“Don’t share products amongst each other, and if you see something, say something to the adults that are in charge of the school, so they can prevent something like this from happening,” Young concluded.
Lawmakers in some states have banned TikTok from official government applications over concerns about Chinese communist surveillance. Some members of the U.S. Congress have also called for a nationwide ban on the application.
Here’s a local news report about the incident:
TikTok gum challenge to blame for 10 students’ trip to hospitalwww.youtube.com
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