{"id":464443,"date":"2026-02-07T13:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/464443\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T13:09:09","slug":"medicines-watchdog-warns-of-deadly-social-media-pill-challenges-yle-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/464443\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicines watchdog warns of deadly social media pill challenges | Yle News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-5vja16 kEtdKx kmuxyA yle__article__paragraph\">Misuse can quickly cause permanent harm, Fimea says.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Pain medication in a pharmacy shelf.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/39-953973627cd7b91a27d.jpeg\" class=\"aw-1l9m598 hKVVvP\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Open image viewer<\/p>\n<p>Some challenges circulating on social media have involved paracetamol and acetylsalicylic acid. Image: Petteri B\u00fclow \/ Yle<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">Finland&#8217;s medicines agency (Fimea) is warning about social media challenges involving over-the-counter drugs, as the consequences can be life threatening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">Some challenges circulating on social media have involved paracetamol and acetylsalicylic acid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">Paracetamol, commonly used for pain relief and fever reduction, is safe when taken in the correct dose, but even a slight overdose can cause serious liver damage, Fimea said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">Acetylsalicylic acid, commonly known as aspirin, also has blood-thinning properties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">&#8220;High doses or prolonged use of acetylsalicylic acid can cause stomach and intestinal problems, and in some cases potentially life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding,&#8221; said Piia Vuorela, a director at Fimea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">She said that adults should talk with children and teens about the social media challenges and the risks associated with medicines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"aw-1gybjub aw-1p7kakr kEtdKx cEmitX yle__article__paragraph\">Yle News&#8217; All Points North podcast looked at moves to ban social media for kids in Finland.<\/p>\n<p>Should Finland ban kids from using social media?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/13-1-4355773-1756384400917.jpeg\" class=\"aw-1l9m598 hKVVvP\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Misuse can quickly cause permanent harm, Fimea says. Open image viewer Some challenges circulating on social media have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-464443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}