How far would you go for Instagram likes and subscribers? Last year saw trends like squiggle brows, the tide pod and cinnamon challenges grip the internet. The latest, and rather dangerous, trend to hit millennials is the ‘Condom Snorting Challenge’.
The trick is to stuff a condom up a nostril, inhale until the long latex string slides into your throat, and then pull it out from the mouth.
Teenagers have been snorting condoms for years. The roots of the dangerous trend can be traced back to October 1993, when Kent University’s campus newspaper wrote about the “Jim Rose Circus Sideshow.” Jim “The Tube” Crowley opened the show “by inhaling a condom through his nose and spitting it out of his mouth,” reports Motherboard.
The challenge again gained traction in 2013 when a YouTube video surfaced showing a woman snorting a condom to Taylor Swift’s ‘22’, ABC News reported. The video was removed, but there are still several other videos floating around of teenagers attempting the challenge.
Parents are being warned to keep an eye on their children as the trend could become a choking hazard for those taking part, reports news.com.au. The spermicidal lubricant found on most condoms can also irritate the inner lining of the nose and cause an allergic reaction or infection.
{{/usCountry}}Parents are being warned to keep an eye on their children as the trend could become a choking hazard for those taking part, reports news.com.au. The spermicidal lubricant found on most condoms can also irritate the inner lining of the nose and cause an allergic reaction or infection.
{{/usCountry}}The only thing people should be snorting is air, with the exception of nasal spray or doctor-prescribed medications, writes Bruce Lee, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a column for Forbes. “The condom could easily get stuck in your nose or your throat, blocking your breathing or causing you to choke,” he wrote.
“There are all kinds of drugs and kids are clever, so it’s just really what are our kids doing? These days our teens are doing everything for likes, views and subscribers. As graphic as it is, we have to show parents because teens are going online looking for challenges and re-creating them,” Stephen Enriquez, a state education specialist in San Antonio, told Fox affiliate KABB.