# People eating Tide pods **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541 "2013-12-05T01:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/21 "2013-12-05T11:07:06Z")
I’ve discovered that there are people out there in internet-land who enjoy eating Comet cleaner. What is wrong with people? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/22 "2013-12-05T18:21:30Z")
When we rented a cottage a year or two back, there was a welcome hamper of basic groceries - milk, bread, tea, coffee etc. Also in there were a couple of loose dishwasher tablets - the individually wrapped kind, but not like any I’d ever seen. I at first took them to be some kind of candy, and had to look closely to figure out what they were – and I’m young, sharp-sighted and immensely intelligent. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/23 "2013-12-05T18:28:44Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > We’ve had some cases of dogs eating them, too. I don’t know what their excuse is since they don’t see colors too well so I doubt they’re thinking “ooh, candy!”. That’s a strong disincentive to using the Tide pods. I mean, a dog’s favorite snacks include cat poop, horse poop, and rotting garbage. Who wants their clothes to smell like any of those things??? Re cat food: A friend of ours, years ago, told of how she had to put the cat’s dishes somewhere where her toddler couldn’t get at them. As she said: the food is harmless enough, she just couldn’t stand how her daughter’s BREATH smelled after such a snack. So when visiting friends, with our just crawling daughter, and I heard a suspicious rattling from the next room, I knew to make a run for it and prevent my daughter from eating any more Little Friskies than she had already done. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/24 "2013-12-05T18:32:25Z")
They would have been a great addition to the “Worst Halloween Candy” thread that showed up in Boo this year. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/25 "2013-12-05T18:41:45Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > Ok… Small child, failing eyesight. Maaaaaaybe you bite into it. It has to taste like, well, soap. If you swallow and continue eating at this point, perhaps we are all better off without you. Meh. It’s sad when someone’s sense of taste\* goes and everything starts to taste alike. But it’s no skin off my nose unless I’m cooking for them and they’re complaining. - Yes, I know that it’s the sense of smell that’s going and that the tongue only tastes sweet/salt/bitter/sour and maybe umame. I was being colloquial and subjective. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/26 "2013-12-05T18:58:05Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I mean, a dog’s favorite snacks include cat poop, horse poop, and rotting garbage. Don’t forget about their own poop. My dog once was roaming our backyard and found some ancient mummified turd and promptly commenced to chewing that thing vigorously until he’d eaten the whole thing, like it was crap jerky. Probably the nastiest single thing I ever saw him do, mostly because it didn’t appear to be a whim, and didn’t seem to be a single-bite thing like most other nasty things he ate. Nope, he had to work at that turd for a while before he ate the whole thing. Back to the OP… I think they’re bright and colorful, and that’s what would attract small children, who then just eat everything because they can. I mean my 2 yr old son was chewing on the butt-end of an aluminum flashlight once! No idea why an elderly non-demented person would decide to snack on one. Cry for attention maybe? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/27 "2013-12-05T19:03:05Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > At first I thought the title was ‘People eating Tide pools’. You ain’t the only one. As for Tide pods, if people would just get in the habit of rinsing their food thoroughly before eating it this would never happen. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/28 "2013-12-05T19:07:00Z")
They look pretty good to me, but I say no way are those things better tasting than Sunlight dish soap. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/29 "2013-12-05T19:09:32Z")
Kids. I once saw my niece, at about 2 or 3 years old, place a cigarette butt in her mouth, and then get this absolutely horrible look on her face. The thing is, she wouldn’t – for whatever reason – surrender it. She grimaced and fought back tears and then swallowed the damned thing. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/30 "2013-12-05T19:10:13Z")
> [@Admiral\_Q](#): > > People need to start leaving bowls of the pods out in their homes, at least if they don’t have young children. Think of it as Darwinism in action. I seriously can’t think of any reason an adult with all of their faculties would eat one. I might leave some on the front porches of folks I really, really don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/31 "2013-12-05T19:30:27Z")
“I’ve got some buddies and we all drink bleach you know we practice what we preach” -The Dead Milkmen ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/32 "2013-12-05T19:47:29Z")
This thread is making me hungry. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/33 "2013-12-05T19:52:31Z")
Have you tried them dipped in Lemon Joy? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/34 "2013-12-05T20:01:31Z")
And I thought the bulk liquid was the [dangerous stuff](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2WK0zdytgc). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/35 "2013-12-05T20:45:53Z")
So what the hell is in Tide that makes it so devastatingly toxic? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/36 "2013-12-05T20:54:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So what the hell is in Tide that makes it so devastatingly toxic? Deep clean stain fighters. 🙂 Lye, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/37 "2013-12-05T21:13:47Z")
Here’s a [pdf](http://www.pg.com/productsafety/msds/Tide_Pods_MSDS_Nov_2013.pdf) of the MSDS. I’d say the e_thoxylated polyethylene polyamine_ looks poisonous. But I’m no chemist. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/38 "2013-12-05T21:20:07Z")
A long time ago, I was hosting a party and had simmering potpourri on the stove. My friend took a cracker, dipped it into the potpourri, and popped it into his mouth. Yes, he was drunk. Good times! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/39 "2013-12-05T21:26:59Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Here’s a [pdf](http://www.pg.com/productsafety/msds/Tide_Pods_MSDS_Nov_2013.pdf) of the MSDS. > > I’d say the e_thoxylated polyethylene polyamine_ looks poisonous. But I’m no chemist. I just noticed the LD50 column, and I guess the _Alcohols, sulfated, neutralized_ pose more of a risk. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/40 "2013-12-05T22:50:51Z")
> [@Silvorange](#): > > I had heard recently that there was a group of moms who were trying to get Procter & Gamble to stop making Tide laundry detergent pods look so tasty because kids kept eating them. > > I got a call from an old friend a little while ago. Her elderly dad is in the hospital in critical condition. He ate a Tide pod :smack:. He doesn’t have dementia or anything. My best guess is that his failing eyesight and sense of taste led him to believe that he was eating something edible. > > Is it possible that Tide pods are just that good? I have some in my laundry room… My youngest is fourteen. Has life gotten so different in the past little over a decade that parents now don’t make sure their cleaning products are out of reach of kids younger than five or so? I mean, this is Parenting 101 - keep the cleaning supplies out of reach and behind child locks. And rather than stop making them, maybe people with little kids who don’t want them because of the temptation shouldn’t buy them. (They will be pulled from the market anyway - we like to have products like that for travel, and they’ve never been able to penetrate the market - they disappear. Purex laundry sheets were the bomb for travel. Apparently, people aren’t willing to pay a premium for convergence in laundry detergent.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541.md?page=3)