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Y’all gotta be kidding! The Food and Drug Administration is warning the public against using over the counter drugs to cook food after a TikToker posted a video using NyQuil to cook their chicken.
The video, which was posted nearly a year ago, may have prompted a “social media challenge,” and the FDA is working to ensure that social media users are safely using OTC drugs. The video has since been deleted, but showed the user frying two chicken breasts in a pan containing NyQuil cold and flu medicine.
The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing–and it is. But it could also be very unsafe. Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. Even if you don’t eat the chicken, inhaling the medication’s vapors while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter your body.”
The agency also referenced a TikTok challenge called the ‘Bendadryl Challenge,’ in which users were encouraged to take large doses of the antihistamine diphenhydramine in order to induce hallucinations. According to the agency, many teens were reported to be in terrible condition after participating in the social media trend.
Prompted by news reports of teenagers needing to go to the emergency room, or in some cases, dying after participating in this challenge and taking too much medication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned the public about the danger of high doses of diphenhydramine.”
The effects of misusing over the counter drugs such as NyQuil and Robitussin were recognized legislatively by the state of New York some years ago. Back in 2013, Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned the sale of OTC drugs containing dextromethorphan for customers under the age of 18.
The FDA urges folks to contact 911 or poison control if a child has taken too much medication or shows signs of hallucination.
