Police issue warning over paracetamol challenge

Police and schools have issued a warning to parents about the “paracetamol challenge”, a potentially lethal social media dare that appears to encourage young people to abuse over-the-counter painkillers.

The challenge, shared via Facebook and Instagram, has already resulted in one schoolboy in Ayrshire being taken to hospital. “We’ve heard about the #paracetamolchallenge. DONT get involved in this. It causes liver & kidney failure … and death,” Coatbridge police tweeted after the incident.

Officers and schools have written to parents to alert them of the trend. Alan Ward, head of schools at East Ayrshire council, said he was first contacted by the police in March.

Ward told ITV News that young people were daring each other to take excessive amounts of paracetamol. “We have been communicating with parents, encouraging them to monitor their child’s safety on social media. We are urging parents to talk to their children about the potential dangers of taking paracetamol, and to discourage their children from engaging in any online activity in support of this dangerous craze,” he said.

But while warnings have been issued, resulting in some dramatic media attention, there is little evidence that the dare has spread beyond a few isolated cases.

The hashtag #paracetamolchallenge is largely dominated by others urging young people not to take part in the fad. Some have shared personal experiences. One user wrote: “My sister died from taking too much paracetamol – kids don’t do it.”

Another said: “I have liver damage at 18 years old from paracetamol overdoses, the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. DO NOT DO IT.”

A third wrote: “As a nurse who’s seen the devastation caused by suicide & paracetamol poisoning people need to reject #paracetamolchallege.”

On Tuesday the mother of a girl who died in 2011 after overdosing on paracetamol spoke of her devastation in an attempt to prevent other young people from making the same mistake.

Mandy Yousaf said her 19-year-old daughter Charlotte took too many tablets following a split from her partner and collapsed a few days later. She was taken to hospital but died the next day because the damage to her liver was irreversible.

“My daughter was here on the Monday, and by Friday she was gone,” Yousaf told the Mirror. “She had fallen out with her boyfriend and it must have been a plea for attention, clearly not realising how serious taking the pills was.

“Now you see teenagers egging each other on, and it’s a peer pressure thing where they clearly don’t know what they’re doing. But it is not just teenagers we need to tell about this, it’s teachers, it’s parents, everyone. My message to them is: don’t end up like my daughter did.”

Yousaf said people should seek medical help as soon as possible if they think they have taken too many tablets. “Doctors said if Charlotte got to the hospital sooner she could have lived. She may have needed a transplant, but she could have lived,” she said.

Paracetamol is one of the most widely used drugs in the world, with packs available for as little as 25p without a prescription. Though the drug is deemed to be harmless, large quantities can cause serious side effects, including yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes, loss of co-ordination and low blood sugar, and, in extreme cases, fatal liver and kidney failure.

Last month concerns emerged about another playground trend, the “sleeper” craze. That involved school pupils covering each other’s mouths and noses until they were unconscious. Police issued a warning after a child believed to be eight years old was taken to hospital.

Last year five people are believed to have died as a result of the game Neknominate, which involved downing an alcoholic drink as fast as possible after being nominated by a friend and then posting a video of the challenge on social media.