Tiktok chrome challenge leads to death of boy | UK | News
A British student tragically died after taking part in a dangerous TikTok challenge known as “chroming”, the inquest heard.
12-year-old Oliver Gorman met his untimely death after inhaling the potentially lethal gas of Lynx and Aldi deodorants. His mother, Clare Gillespie, issued a stern warning about the TikTok trend of teenagers inhaling aerosols to get high, dubbed “chroming” or “huffing”, at an inquest into Oliver’s tragic death.
Manchester South Coroner’s Court heard Oliver had been the subject of verbal bullying about his appearance but was also an energetic lad with a solid social circle. Mum Clare, formerly of Hyde, Greater Manchester, but now living in Shrewsbury, expressed her desire to warn other parents about the various emojis which also feature in popular Netflix drama Adolescence.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she admitted: “I don’t know if Oliver did this to escape. As a mother, it makes me sad. “Every Christmas, we have a running joke about how we’ve never had so many chocolates, deodorant and gift sets.
“Oliver had symbols on his TikTok account. I’d never seen them before, so I Googled them. They used these symbols in the Netflix series Adolescence. Oliver got upset and turned to social media. I don’t believe he did this to take his own life. I think it was something that went terribly wrong.” Mirror.
“If anything, I want to make sure parents know the risks these things can pose. He was a sweet kid, a lovely family kid.”
Clare explained that they have started a petition called Oliver’s Awareness and are determined to further their campaign to draw attention to the dangers of social media, solvent abuse and bullying.
He explained: “If we can raise awareness in one place, in ten places out of a million places. Every young child is given Lynx. I can’t use something like that anymore. I’ve been a hairdresser for 26 years, but I can’t even use hairspray.”
The inquest heard Oliver had recently returned from a family holiday to Wales and retired to his bedroom at around 4.30pm on May 5 this year.
His mother noticed him a few minutes later under his covers, not breathing.
Emergency services attended the scene and Oliver, who has two older brothers, was transported to Tameside General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7.31pm.
The court heard five aerosol containers were found in the bedroom, three of which were products from Lynx and two from Aldi.
Deputy coroner Andrew Bridgman returned a verdict of accidental death.
Mr Bridgman stated that he did not believe Oliver intended to take his own life and concluded that it was impossible to determine whether Oliver had previously inhaled butane. Mr. Bridgman expressed his belief that warnings on aerosols were inadequate and needed caution.
He stated: “There is no evidence that Oliver deliberately inhaled the aerosol in an attempt to end his own life. “I believe this chroming was due to TikTok challenges.
“When you look at the challenges of TikTok, it’s clear that what social media has exposed in influencing the young minds of people like Oliver is actually quite frightening. More awareness is needed.”
Mr Bridgman expressed concern that labeling about the risks of breathing in aerosols was inadequate and that under-16s could buy the boxes, and said he would write to the business secretary about this.
He added: “It is a great concern that TikTok is spreading these challenges with no regard for the well-being of its subscribers. It concerns me that these life-threatening challenges are appearing on TikTok and are so easily accessible. Perhaps the person I should be writing to about this is the culture secretary. I hope between us we can prevent the loss of young lives in the future.”
After the hearing, Clare, 42, said: “Social media is an absolute disgrace. I went on Facebook to talk to relatives. Now there are people daring other children to take their own lives or do things that could end horribly. People will lose their children’s lives because of these tendencies. It kills.”
“As a parent, I feel numb and sad. Do not buy these solvents for your children and do not have them in your home. I never thought this could happen to my child. We buy our children’s cell phones for safety, but this safety is a big gamble because you don’t know what they do with them.”
