A NEW social media craze is causing schoolchildren to risk their lives by overdosing on Paracetamol.

The Facebook and Instagram game, dubbed the 'Paracetamol Challenge', encourages young people to abuse the over-the-counter painkillers by daring each other to take excessive amounts of the drug.

Parents are being warned by police and schools about the dangers of the potentially lethal challenge.

According to medics even a small overdose of painkillers can cause serious health problems.

The first cases are understood to have happened in Ayshire, Scotland where one teenager reportedly ended up in hospital.