Sonia HopkinThe mother of a girl who died while copying a “horrible” social media trend is calling for children to be taught about the dangers of solvent abuse.
Sonia Hopkin was left “heartbroken” after the death of her 13-year-old daughter, Tiegan Jarman, who was found unresponsive in her bedroom in Thurmaston, Leicestershire, on 6 March.
She died while taking part in an online trend called chroming, copying videos she had seen on TikTok, Mrs Hopkin said.
A petition has now been launched calling for mandatory lessons about solvent abuse to be introduced in schools.
Mrs Hopkin, who lives in Leicester, said Tiegan had been pronounced dead at the scene after she was found unconscious in her father’s home.
The 45-year-old believes her “outgoing and funny” daughter was taking part in a trend where people sniff or inhale toxic fumes, which she had seen on TikTok.
‘The worst nightmare’
Mrs Hopkin, a healthcare assistant at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said she had broken down in tears when she found out what had happened to her daughter.
“When you hear other stories in the papers, you always think it’s someone else’s family, never your own,” she said.
“It’s just the worst nightmare. I was heartbroken and I’ve been like that ever since.”
Mrs Hopkin now wants to raise awareness of the “dangers of this horrible trend”.
In addition to calling for lessons about solvent abuse, the petition also asks for regulations requiring manufacturers to add warnings on their packaging to be enforced.
Mrs Hopkin said: “We’re hoping it can be taught in schools, not just the dangers of household chemicals, but the dangers of the internet as well.
“We just want people to be aware so no-one else has to go through this horrible tragedy.”
Sonia HopkinMrs Hopkin also called on TikTok to do more to stop actions, such as chroming, from becoming trends.
“It’s amazing that these videos aren’t taken down,” she said. “I can’t understand why anyone would want to share that kind of rubbish.
“One video would be bad, but the fact it has become a trend is unbelievable. It shouldn’t be available on the internet.”
The British Aerosol Manufacturers’ Association said products must already have several warning statements on packaging, but added a new message using “better language” to explain risks would be introduced in 2026.
A spokesperson for TikTok said chroming was a “long-standing, widely documented behaviour across the internet” and the social media site did not allow videos showing or promoting dangerous content.
They added: “The safety of our community is our priority and we work to proactively identify, review, and remove content that violates our policies.
“We created technology that alerts our safety teams to sudden increases in violative content linked to hashtags to help detect potentially harmful trends.”
