just got this sick email

[mikeyredk]

OMGThis incident happened recently in Belgium. We need to
be even more
careful everywhere. A woman went boating one Sunday,

taking with her some cans of coke which she put in the
refrigerator of
the boat. On Monday she was taken into ICU and on

Wednesday she died. The autopsy revealed a certain
Leptospirose caused
by the can of coke from which she had drunk, not

using a glass. A test showed that the can was infected
by dried rat
urine and hence the disease Leptospirosis. Rat urine
contains

toxic and deathly substances. It is highly recommended
to wash
thoroughly the upper part of soda cans before drinking
out of them

as they have been stocked in warehouses and
transported straight to The
shops without being cleaned. A study in Spain showed

that the tops of soda cans are more contaminated than
public toilets
i.e. full of germs and bacteria. So to wash th em with
water is

advised before putting it to the mouth to avoid any
kind of fatal
accident. Please forward this message to! all the
people you care

about.( I JUST DID ! )

[rainman::|:|]

as with 99% of forwarded emails, it's not true.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/raturine.htm

paul

[OutThere]

fooled... ;)


http://www.snopes.com/toxins/raturine.htm

[OutThere]

as with 99% of forwarded emails, it's not true.

http://www.snopes.com/toxins/raturine.htm

paul

damn you! ;)

[Sun Baked]

Since most of the cans of Coke are in boxes until you take them out, the vast majority of nasty cans will be coming out of soda machines or the cans tossed in somebodies gym bag.

ie, watch where you leave your food... using full cans of coke to prop up the roach motel isn't a good idea.

[mikeyredk]

thought so, i put this stuff up for education sakes. I always drink straight from the can i say why do more dishes

[iLikeMyiMac]

I knew someone who washed all their cans in the dishwasher before drinking out of them.

[Neserk]

My grandmother always washes the lid before drinking, she also uses a straw. I had the bad experience of getting a dirty can out of a machine and not noticing until I took a drink and got a mouth full (not literally) of dirt. BLECK! I now look and wash if necessary.

[Mr. Anderson]

Every once in a while something comes out like this and you just have to love snopes :D

Probably started as Pepsi's counter campaign against coke....but not traceable :D

D

[wowser]

i don't drink soda, only beer

[musicpyrite]

i don't drink soda, only beer

I don't drink anything out of a can. Carbonation tastes weird to me.

I like to drink milk, I'll go through a gallon in about 2-3 days. But I also like cranberry juice, apple juice, water, gatorade, tea, and the occasional coffee when I'm tired or at Starbucks.

[Abstract]

Well despite what Snopes says, this one could be true. The disease itself isn't made up, and there are rodents in all sorts of factories and warehouses.

Sometimes Snopes just speculates or argues a point based on what they think, not fact. If you read the entire thing, Snopes doesn't sound too sure themselves.

"Hey, Snopes.com is an internet info source. It must be true!!" :p No more reliable than others, although most of what they say seems well researched, but this isn't one of those cases.

[wdlove]

I get some weird E.Mails also, just delete them. Most live overseas and are asking for money. Or I should respond to a loan that I applied for.

I don't drink directly out of a can. If I lived overseas, I would be more concerned about the can. But unusual things have happened with cans here also.

[rainman::|:|]

Well despite what Snopes says, this one could be true. The disease itself isn't made up, and there are rodents in all sorts of factories and warehouses.

Sometimes Snopes just speculates or argues a point based on what they think, not fact. If you read the entire thing, Snopes doesn't sound too sure themselves.

"Hey, Snopes.com is an internet info source. It must be true!!" :p No more reliable than others, although most of what they say seems well researched, but this isn't one of those cases.

Yes, but the email says it *did* happen, whereas it simply *could*. The idea that extra caution needs to be had because of precedent is wrong. However, it is true that cans can have all sorts of interesting things on them, i've certainly come across cans that had dirt or sticky residue on the rim. You should always wash them off if you're safety conscious. Pouring into a glass does little to avoid this if you don't rinse the can first, as it's pouring over the rim.

I've also been advised that in third-world type countries, you should rinse *and* dry the can, since the water may not be good to drink. Don't want to replace dirt with bacteria or parasite eggs.

paul

[5300cs]

i don't drink soda, only beer

Amen, brother

[Coolvirus007]

I knew someone who washed all their cans in the dishwasher before drinking out of them.

Wouldn't it blow up because the thing gets so heated in the last cycle? Or can you disable that part?

[belair]

Yeah I got that exact same e-mail last year.
Only it did not happen in Belguim but in Switzerland.

This story "could" happen. But that one did NOT.

[Archaeopteryx]

My mother has always washed cans before drinking from them.. I do to now just out of habit.. though the whole rat piss storry seems far fetched.. how would you not be able to tell if it had piss on it!

[wowser]

I wonder what a carbonated milk would be like?

I make my own banana milkshakes:

small banana
1/2 pint of full fat milk
honey
pinch of salt (to emulsify the banana before you add the milk)

The trick is to blitz the banana and honey mix to a fine pulp,l before addind milk.
#

[Doctor Q]

I read an interesting article about the couple who run Snopes. The husband started it as a hobby (under a name other than Snopes). His wife had similar interests, and they met on the Internet in a text-based chat room (before the World Wide Web) while talking about urban folklore. He recently quit his "real" job to work on Snopes full time. They live in a trailer!

[Neserk]

i don't drink soda, only beer


Well there you have it! The alcohol will kill any germs on the lid so you are safe!

[Nermal]

I don't drink directly out of a can. If I lived overseas, I would be more concerned about the can. But unusual things have happened with cans here also.

I was in Indonesia a few years ago, it was easy to get sick by doing 'unhygienic' things that you normally don't even think about. For example, going into McDonald's and eating chips without first washing your hands :eek:

[wowser]

Well there you have it! The alcohol will kill any germs on the lid so you are safe!

especially when put in the freezer for 30 minutes, then poured into an iced glass :)

[wowser]

I don't drink anything out of a can. Carbonation tastes weird to me.

I like to drink milk, I'll go through a gallon in about 2-3 days. But I also like cranberry juice, apple juice, water, gatorade, tea, and the occasional coffee when I'm tired or at Starbucks.

Ocean Spray gives me a headache. A bit odd.

[rueyeet]

Sometimes Snopes just speculates or argues a point based on what they think, not fact. If you read the entire thing, Snopes doesn't sound too sure themselves.

"Hey, Snopes.com is an internet info source. It must be true!!" :p No more reliable than others, although most of what they say seems well researched, but this isn't one of those cases.Snopes themselves have a page of "rumors" that they fabricated just to show people that they should never turn off their skepticism...even if the source is Snopes.

However, any email I get that has "send this to everyone you care about!!" tagged to the bottom, I immediately run by Snopes, because all but one of the emails I've ever gotten with that at the end has been bogus fearmongering. Snopes will at least have done the search for a news story corroborating whatever the email's asking me to panic over, and failing to find one, will bring in the big guns of common sense and healthy skepticism.

Sure, the contaminated soda cans thing *could* happen, and probably sometimes even *has* happened maybe once or twice, but it's not something me and "all the people I care about!" need to worry our heads over. :rolleyes:

[Lyle]

I wonder what a carbonated milk would be like?Have you ever had an egg cream (http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=674)? I have the feeling that a carbonated milk would taste a lot like one of those. Out of curiosity, I tried an egg cream at "Comfort" (http://www.studyworld.com/culinary/Comfort-Diner.htm), a diner in NYC last year; it was pretty gross (the egg cream, not the diner). Maybe it's an acquired taste. ;)