Schoolchildren in France are burning one another with spicy chili peppers in the latest social media challenge that has local officials scrambling to warn parents.
In the horrifying "jeu du piment," or pepper game, children take the high-heat peppers to school, break them open and then rub them into the eyes and mouths of their classmates. Some students have started crushing the peppers onto their own skin to give themselves burns.
Three children at one French school were "lightly burned," according to The Local.
One school, Gendarmerie Du Pas De Calais, near the Belgium border, sent a message to parents on Facebook telling them to "be vigilant" and to talk to their kids about the game.
Dangerous challenges or viral dares have gained traction through social media in recent years. The chili pepper game is not the first to leave students with burns.
An 8-year-old Florida girl died in the so-called "Hot Water Challenge" after drinking boiling water through a straw. Another North Carolina child was severely burned when he took part in the challenge with his stepbrother.
Students often film themselves taking part in dangerous challenges and post them online. Some challenges can be light-hearted and fun like the "Running Man Challenge," which features teenagers doing the dance step, or the "Mannequin Challenge," where students pretended to be frozen while the song "Black Beatles" by Rae Sremmurd played.
Other viral challenges are more sinister. A choking challenge left several students dead. The game, also called the "fainting game" or "flatliner," involves students choking themselves until they pass out or lose consciousness in hopes that they wake up feeling euphoric. A New Jersey student died in May after playing the game. And a pretend ISIS beheading game injured one Michigan student earlier this month.
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