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Seen At 11: Teens Take On New And Dangerous Stunts

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- From peer pressure to boredom to simple curiosity, many factors can play a role in a child taking part in a dangerous dare.

As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, such dares can lead to terrible injuries, or worse.

Many students are off from school for winter break this week – and they take it as a week to let loose from the pressures of high school. But too many kids who are bored this February break will give in to the peer pressures of the dangerous dares they have been watching online.

One dare involves self-induced frostbite with salt and ice. Another involves overdosing on soda and cough syrup concoctions. And the troublesome trends are not new, but they are making a comeback – and they are all the rage on the internet.

"It messes you up as if you are on a high or something," one teen said.

"It is bad, but it's supposed to be fun," another said.

"This is so frustrating," said Dr. Robert Glatter of Northwell Health Lenox Hill Hospital. "Something that leads to accidents, leads to death, leads to injuries -- this is all avoidable."

Glatter is an emergency physician at the hospital, and said one of the crazes that concerns him the most is kids dousing their bodies in hand sanitizer and lighting them on fire.

"Very flammable -- we're talking 62 percent ethyl alcohol," Glatter said. "If you light that in seconds, you can have a second-degree burn."

In fact, an 8-year-old New Hampshire boy just spent a month in a Boston hospital after that trick left him with burns on about a third of his body, according to his mother's Facebook post.

She implored parents who have kids and watch YouTube to pay attention to what they are watching.

And Glatter stressed that even if you think your kid is not capable of such things, a conversation cannot hurt.

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