Laundry and dish-detergent pods are a colorful, convenient way to clean up. But Tide Pods and the like are also the bane of parents’ and detergent companies’ existence these days because, to some people, those little pods of cleaning goop look delicious enough to eat. Although they may not contain a whole lot of vitamins, nutrients, or sugar, they do have the perfect blend of chemicals to make you barf, lose consciousness, or evenirritate your cornea.

Despite all that, the Internet hastaken to creating memes about how enticing these forbidden morsels really can be. The websiteKnow Your Meme traces the fascination back to a2013 forum discussion and a2015 Onion article. But early last month, Twitter showed a renewed interest, which has some safety experts a little on edge.

"Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people who use our products," a spokesperson for P&G, the maker of Tide Pods, tells SELF. "Our laundry pacs are a highly concentrated detergentmeant to clean clothes, and they’re used safely in millions of households every day. They should only be used to clean clothes and kept up, closed, and away from children."

But that hasn’t stopped the Internet:

It’s not totally clear why these pods are so appetizing (especially to kids). But Alfred Aleguas, PharmD, managing director atFlorida Poison Information Center in Tampa, tells SELF it may be because they resemble candy or squishy, liquid-filled teething toys. And for adults, knowing that you’re not supposed to eat them is at least half of the appeal.

Whatever the reason, though, kids do eat them. And kids get sick—really sick. The calls first started coming to poison-control centers in around 2013 and have stayed at a pretty consistent volume, Aleguas says. But what’s been really surprising is how different the symptoms are compared to getting a swig of your normal liquid detergent.

"Normal liquid laundry detergents are fairly innocuous," he explains. If you get a little taste, you’ll probably have diarrhea later on. And if you swallow more than that, you’ll probably vomit. So, not exactly a fun time, but also not life-threatening.

When it came to the concentrated pods, however, "it was really way outside of what you would expect to see," Aleguas says. "Kids were becoming very sick, very quickly." Initially, kids were presenting with respiratory or GI symptoms, like wheezing, coughing, vomiting, or nausea. But over the course of10 to 30 minutes, their breathing and heart rate might slow, leading to serious difficulty breathing and even a loss of consciousness.

Aleguas explains that chemical ingredients that have been added to the pods can coat the lungs, making it difficult for oxygen to pass into the bloodstream. They can also causeacidosis, a serious condition in which the blood's pH becomes too acidic. These chemicals made the new formulations "inherently much more toxic [than liquid detergent] and much more likely to have significant effects," Aleguas explains.

And, because the pods are designed to dissolve in water, a child doesn’t necessarily need to bite into one to be exposed; it may break down just thanks to their saliva. And even if they're not ingested, the pods have been shown to irritate eyes and skin.

The first child death in the U.S. after eating detergent pods came inAugust of 2013. But more recently, Aleguas says he suspects manufacturers have changed their formulation because the reported symptoms have been much less severe. (The exact formulas are proprietary, so it’s hard to know exactly what’s causing the symptoms or what may have changed in the recipes.)

Today, if a child has ingested some detergent from a pod and has respiratory symptoms, Aleguas says that it’s still a medical emergency and should be treated ASAP. But if he or she vomited and seems to be OK overall, he says, poison control will advise the parent to keep a very close eye on the child, but that they don't necessarily need emergency attention.

Companies, including P&G, have changed the way they package the pods in an effort to keep them out of kids’ hands (and GI tracts). For instance, in August of last year, the company introducedchild-resistant tops to the pod container packaging.

But Aleguas points out that that doesn’t do much if the pods are already out of the container. So, if you have kids younger than five, it’s probably best to just use classic liquid detergent and skip the pods if possible, he says.

And if you’re an adult who knows better and isstill tempted to chomp down on a pod, may we instead suggest a brilliant invention known as candy?

Call 1-800-222-1222 to reach poison control in case of exposure or text POISON to 797979 to save the number in your phone.

Related:

• The Death of a 12-Year-Old Boy From Sepsis Is a Tragic Reminder to Always Clean Your Cuts
• Homeopathic Teething Products May Endanger Babies, Per FDA Records
• Almost 40 People Have Gotten a Bacterial Infection From Puppies in the Last Year