Newspaper websites are full of warnings over the latest stupid 'challenge' doing the rounds on social media... but is it even real?

Called the #paracetamolchallenge, claims it is a craze among the young have popped up in the media in recent days, but apart from the fact that taking to many paracetamol can be lethal, there are doubts that the challenge even exists.

According to many newspaper websites teenagers are risking serious injury or death, with many of the stories including this tweet

 

 

So where does this challenge come from, and is it a craze... well that is not so clear.

According to Snopes.com

"On 21 May 2015, the Scotsman published an article titled “Pupils Risking Lives in ‘Paracetamol Challenge.'”

"On 26 May 2015, British tabloid the Mirror followed suit by publishing an article titled “Paracetamol Challenge: Schoolchildren ‘Risking Lives’ in New Social Media Craze”.

"Both articles claimed that warnings about the paracetamol challenge originated in Scotland, where a teenager was purportedly hospitalized after he or she attempted it:

"Police and schools have sent warnings home to parents about the potentially lethal challenge which is being spread via Facebook and Instagram.

"The first cases are believed to have happened in Ayrshire, Scotland, and reportedly led to one teenager ending up in hospital.

"Neither article offered any specifics about the alleged adverse event in Scotland linked to the paracetamol challenge claims, but the Mirror‘s article linked to a tweet issued by police in the UK on 5 May 2015:

"On 26 May 2015, the Mirror ran a second article about the paracetamol challenge. In that piece, the mother of a girl who died of a paracetamol overdose urged teens not to engage in the supposed social media craze.

"It’s worth noting, however, that the teenager in question died of an overdose of the over-the-counter painkiller in 2011 in an incident unrelated to social media challenges.

"On Twitter, a cursory search revealed significant chatter about the paracetamol challenge. However, the overwhelming majority of the tweets using a linked hashtag were either urging teens not to attempt the challenge or sharing news articles about the latest rumored craze in teen social media behaviors, or were instances of people piggybacking off the buzz to promote their own interests."