An 11-year-old boy from the UK has died after inhaling toxic chemicals in a TikTok challenge known as “chroming” and his devastated family is now calling for the social media company to be shut down and barred from children under 16.
Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington, 11, suffered a cardiac arrest at a friend’s house in Lancaster on Saturday, March 2, according to the Times of London.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital but didn’t make it.
“He died instantly after a sleepover at a friend’s house. The boys had tried the TikTok craze ‘chroming,’” said the boy’s grandmother, Tina Burns.
“Tommie-Lee went into cardiac arrest immediately and died right there and then. The hospital did everything to try and bring him back but nothing worked. He was gone.”
“He had a heart of gold just like his dad. Our family is utterly devastated,” she added.
Chroming involves inhaling the fumes from common household items like aerosol cans, nail polish remover, paint solvents, and cleaning products to get high, while teens film the process and results then post it online.
The practice can cause serious brain damage, suffocation, cardiac arrests, and more with just one inhalation. The trend has led to numerous teen deaths around the world amid lots of chroming videos on TikTok.
Tommie-Lee’s family thinks TikTok needs to “do more” to keep users safe, and should even be shut down to prevent other kids from dying.
“Both our families are utterly devastated but we all want the same thing,” Burns said, referring to the family of Tommie-Lee’s friend.
“We don’t want any other children to follow TikTok or be on social media.”
“In fact, we want to get TikTok taken down and no children to be allowed on any social media under 16 years of age. This is breaking us all but we want to help save other children’s lives and give families awareness to keep their children safe.”