Every month, a new meme seems to be taking the internet by storm. The new year also brought a new meme – eating Tide Pods, as well as other so-called “forbidden snacks” The popular joke amongst teenagers, however, seems to have taken an extremely deadly turn.

The concern with Tide Pods has mostly focused on young children in the past five years, with a handful of cases of the elderly ingesting the detergent pods even being reported. However, experts are concerned that with some teenagers, inspired by the newly-popular memes, are taking part of the “Tide Pod Challenge” – the newest video challenge in which participants film themselves biting and potentially swallowing the detergent and its chemicals.

“The memes are funny,” senior Nina Vuong said. “The people who are doing the challenge are not. Like, why would you be that dumb to actually eat a Tide Pod?”

Health professionals concern with the challenge has grown, especially after seeing videos multiplying on YouTube. YouTube has since announced that it will begin removing the videos.

“This just goes to show that the frontal lobe [in teenagers] is not fully developed,” psychology teacher Joy Grieco said. “We have become a group of followers. Just because you see it, doesn’t mean you believe it.”

Several cases of death have been reported after children have ingested Tide Pods. Experts have warned that although the newest Internet joke may be funny to some, the harmful effects that eating the laundry detergent have should be taken seriously.

“You know what will harm you,” Grieco said. “We should be using our critical thinking skills.”