A pregnancy test’s purpose is to determine whether a woman is pregnant. Typically, the test is discarded after use, not dismantled—as some TikTok users are doing.

In a dangerous trend that has swept across social media, people are assuming a small pill found inside the test is the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B One-Step.

Newsweek spoke to Dr. Myro Figura, who responded to one of the viral videos by creating his own on Instagram (as @doctormyro), urging, “Please do not eat it.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) states that emergency contraception is designed to reduce the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or contraceptive failure.

However, a 2021 survey by Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) found that one in three people confirm their pregnancies after six weeks, making it far too late for the drug to be effective.

Viral Video Misconceptions

Last month, physician Figura, 36, reposted a video of content creator Ryan Telfer buying a Clearblue pregnancy test and then breaking it open in his car.

During the video, which was initially shared on TikTok (@ryantelfershow) and racked up over 11 million views, Telfer says: “I don’t know if this is a major life hack or maybe you’re not actually supposed to take these,” adding that they could be “saving a lot of lives.”

He told Newsweek: “I think it was something that absorbs moisture to determine whether or not a woman is pregnant.

“But maybe it’s a pill that works better than a Plan B and could be used later than normal.”

Clearblue Confirms: What Exactly Is the Pill?

Newsweek reached out to SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics, a medical diagnostic company that owns the Clearblue brand.

Dr. Fiona Clancy, SPD’s research and development senior director, told Newsweek that the “pill” is actually a desiccant tablet.

She said: “It is standard to include a desiccant in all our pregnancy tests. The desiccant absorbs moisture, ensuring product performance is maintained for the validated shelf life.

“While the desiccant tablet is not toxic, if a customer has accidentally ingested it, we would recommend they seek medical advice.”

This advice was echoed by Figura, who lives in Los Angeles, California, and warns people against following advice from social media stars with zero medical credentials.

“Fact-check everything you see online,” he told Newsweek. “This is why my channel exists in the first place—a lot of health information isn’t verified by people with proper credentials and backgrounds, which often yields questionable information. This can not only be misleading, but downright dangerous.”

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