In Arizona, the U.S., a teenage girl collapsed after spraying her hair. The accident happened while trying to copy a challenge that is popular on social networking sites. After receiving treatment in the intensive care unit for more than a week, Lena was declared brain dead.
The British Independent and other foreign media reported that the “chroming challenge,” which inhales spray on social media such as TikTok, is spreading, and accidents are occurring one after another, with teenagers imitating it dying.
One of the challenges popular on TikTok and other websites since 2023 is to post images of hallucinations by inhaling volatile substances such as sprays. As these videos gained high views, teenagers began to imitate them.
TikTok user Lena also collapsed after inhaling the spray and was treated in an intensive care unit in Arizona on the 1st, and was declared brain dead after failing to regain consciousness for a week. The hospital said Lena’s cause of death was “Sudden Death Syndrome.”
Experts warn that repeated inhalation of nitrous oxide and formaldehyde during the chroming challenge leads to hallucinations, as well as nausea, vomiting, seizures, kidney and liver dysfunction, brain damage, and speech disorders.
In 2023, a 13-year-old girl died eight days after she fell into a coma after suffering severe brain damage while imitating the Croming Challenge in Australia, and last year, an 11-year-old boy died of a heart attack in the UK while imitating the Croming Challenge.
Lena’s father, who started fundraising on the US online fundraising site GoFundMe to promote the dangerous “Croming Challenge,” said, “The pain felt by family and friends over the death of my daughter is immeasurable. We are pushing for a bill to actively utilize TV news and prevent other families from experiencing the same thing as us.”
SALLY LEE
US ASIA JOURNAL
