CONDOMS might make for safer sex — but they’re at the centre of one of the riskiest challenges taking over social media.
PARENTS are being urged to be vigilant over a dangerous new social media challenge of teens snorting condoms up their noses.
The “condom challenge” sees youngsters snorting an unwrapped condom up one nostril, then pulling it from the throat and out the mouth,.
But parents are being warned to keep an eye on their children as the trend could become a choking hazard for those taking part.
Stephen Enriquez, a state education specialist in the US, where the craze started, told KPMG: “These days our teens are doing everything for likes, views and subscribers.
“As graphic as it is, we have to show parents because teens are going online looking for challenges and recreating them.”
The challenge involves snorting the condom up one’s nose. Picture: YouTubeSource:YouTube
The challenge first emerged in 2007 but has resurfaced with videos showing the disturbing process appearing on YouTube.
Health experts have urged teens not to take part because the rubber could potentially get caught in a person’s airway and block their ability to breathe.
The spermicidal lubricant found on most condoms can also irritate the inner lining of the nose and cause allergic reaction or infection.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health associate professor Dr Bruce Y Lee said: “Even if you manage to successfully pull the condom out through your mouth, inhaling a condom up your nose would be very uncomfortable and potentially quite painful.
“Would it really be worth all that just to get more likes and views?”
It comes after another dangerous trend went viral earlier this year called the “TidePod Challenge”, which saw teens chewing and swallowing laundry detergent pods.
