The Empire State is embarking on Tide Pod control.
New York lawmakers have responded to the “Tide Pod Challenge” with legislation designed to discourage citizens from eating liquid detergent packets. State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas, both Democrats, have introduced a bill that puts the onus on companies to alter their products.
“[Procter & Gamble] and other manufacturers must use a stronger bittering agent to prevent ingestion of pods, reduce their pleasant smell, and make them feel more firm,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the company, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
The pair’s legislation would mandate that detergent packets be resistant to “a child’s bite” and possess “uniform color that is not attractive to children.”
“During the past five years, poison control centers have received well over 50,000 calls relating to liquid laundry packet exposures,” The American Association of Poison Control Centers says on its website. “While unintentional misuse by children five and under accounted for the majority of these calls, a recent trend among teenagers ingesting the packets — and uploading videos to various internet platforms including video-sharing websites, social media, and vlogging platforms — has caused significant concern among poison control centers.”
The organization has tallied 157 incidents involving teenagers since Jan. 1.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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