Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington, 11, who died ‘taking part in latest social media toxic fume challenge at a friend’s sleepover’ (Picture: Facebook)
The ‘chroming challenge’ has claimed another life, sparking warnings about the dangers of the viral social media trend.
Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington, an 11-year-old from Lancashire, died from a suspected cardiac arrest after he and his friends tried the social media craze called ‘chroming’ at a sleepover.
Last year, Esra Haynes, from Melbourne, Australia, died in similar circumstances after inhaling deodorant at a sleepover, The Mirror reported.
Both deaths sparked warnings from their families to other parents over the dangers of chroming.
But what exactly is ‘chroming’?
What is the ‘chroming’ challenge on social media?
Chroming, also known as huffing or sniffing, is a word first used in Australia to describe the act of inhaling the fumes of chrome-based paint.
A variety of toxic chemical fumes are used in chroming (Picture: michalPuchala / Getty Images Source)
It now refers more broadly to inhaling fumes from other substances like solvent, aerosol cans, nail polish, cleaning products or petrol.
This also includes nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, which is often sold as whipped cream canisters and is inhaled through balloons. That too has been linked with deaths.
Sniffing these chemicals produces a short-lived high comparable to drinking alcohol.
It can include feelings of light-headedness, relaxation, drowsiness, giddiness excitement, even euphoria and mild hallucinations.
The terminology and the act have had long lives, first appearing on Urban Dictionary in 2006.
But more recently ‘chroming’ found popularity with younger generations on platforms such as TikTok, where youngsters posted videos of themselves inhaling toxic fumes.
TikTok has since blocked the search for trends such as chroming.
Chroming is a dangerous practice involving the inhalation of toxic chemical fumes that can prove fatal (Picture: Etienne Ansotte/REX/Shutterstock)
Why is chroming so dangerous?
Although the high gained from inhaling fumes is over in a few seconds or minutes, the health effects of consuming the toxic chemicals are longer lasting.
Esra Haynes had irreparable brain damage after inhaling an aerosol deodorant.
She died after spending several days on life support following the cardiac arrest it caused.
Chroming, or using inhalants, can cause the heart to stop beating, according to the USA’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
It can suffocate users by depriving them of oxygen, either while they consume it with a bag over their head or face, or by replacing oxygen with other gases in the lungs.
It can also cause seizures and can damage vital organs like the brain, heart, kidneys, and liver, according to NIDA.
Some participants in chroming choke on vomit brought up by inhaling fumes.
Repeated long-term use of inhalants is more likely to cause damage to the brain and nervous system
The impact on cognition, movement, vision and hearing can be so bad it’s comparable to severe dementia.
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‘Kids don’t look beyond the next day, they really don’t’, Esra’s dad Paul said, the New Zealand Herald reported
‘And especially not knowing how it can affect them.
‘Esra would never have done this if she would have known the consequences.’
Tommie-Lee’s mum Sherri said: ‘Please, please, please hide all deodorants from your children.
‘This cost my son his life from trying something other kids are doing. They are using this and breathing them in to try get a buzz.
‘Please talk to your children about the consequences of this, I have no idea how this even came about for children to try.’
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