Deadly Rat Urine on Soda Cans
Email alert claims that people have died after coming into contact with rat urine on unwashed soda pop cans.
Description: Urban legend
Circulating since: Oct. 1998
Status: Unsubstantiated
Example #1:
Email contributed by Bill W., Nov. 8, 1998:
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Subj: Subject: Rat's Urine...Be aware of it!!!! Not joke.....
Be careful! Whenever you buy a can of coke or whatever, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap or, if not available, drink with a straw. A family friend's friend (Katrina/Sophie: It's Auntie Bet's friend) died after drinking a can of soda! Apparently, she didn't clean the top before drinking from the can. The top was encrusted with dried rat's urine which is toxic and obviously lethal!!!!! Canned drinks and other foodstuff are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents and then get transported to the retail outlets without being properly cleaned. So you know what to do from now on folks........... |
Example #2:
Email contributed by Brian J., Nov. 16, 1998:
| Whenever you buy a can of coke or whatever, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap or if not available drink out of a straw. A family friend died after drinking a can of soda! Apparently, she didn't clean the top before drinking from the can of soda! The top was encrusted with dried rat's urine which is toxic and obviously lethal!!! Canned drinks and other foodstuff are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents and then get transported to the retail outlets without being properly cleaned. So you know what to do from now on... |
Example #3:
Email contributed anonymously, Nov. 20, 1998:
| Whenever you buy a can of coke or whatever, please make sure that you wash the top with running water and soap or, if not available, drink with a straw. A woman died after drinking a can of soda! apparently, she didn't clean the top before drinking from the can. The top was encrusted with dried rat's urine which is toxic and obviously lethal!!!!! Canned drinks and other foodstuff are stored in warehouses and containers that are usually infested with rodents and then get transported to the retail outlets without being properly cleaned. So you know what to do from now on folks........... tell someone! |
Analysis: One reason folks share stories like the above is to pass along information which, at least on the face of it, appears critically important to everyone's health and well-being.
Another reason they do it is to scare one another, and to that end some people are clearly not above fudging the facts. This is one reason rumors change and evolve over time (note the passages highlighted in bold in the examples above), a defining feature of urban legends.
That a report contains errors or inconsistencies doesn't mean we have to dismiss it altogether, of course. For example, it's plausible that someone could have died in the manner described above, even if the precise details given us are questionable. It's plainly false that rat urine is inherently "toxic and obviously lethal" as claimed, but rats do sometimes carry diseases deadly to humans, in which cases their urine and/or feces pose a real epidemiological threat.
It goes without saying that crates of canned soft drinks could be exposed to rodent traffic during transport and storage, but we needn't conclude that urine contamination is common. Such products are usually boxed and/or shrink-wrapped until they're put on display for sale.
If the very idea makes you nervous, by all means do wash your soda cans before consuming such beverages. One timeless adage that goes well with any cautionary tale is the saying, "'Tis better to be safe than sorry."
'Tis true!
See also:
Lethal Rat Droppings on Soda Cans
Urban Legends, September 1999Woman Catches Leptospirosis from Unwashed Coke Can
Urban Legends, September 2002
Last updated: 08/05/10
