It's the Lethal Thing:
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 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! |
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 by Bill W., Nov. 8, 1998:
|
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........... |
Comments: One reason we pass along stories like this is to share information which, at least on the face of it, appears to be critical to our health and well-being. Another reason is to scare one another. To that end, many of us are clearly not above fudging the details for maximum impact, so the stories change and evolve over time. This is a defining feature of urban legends.
Which, in itself, doesn't prove that the stories false, of course. It's possible that someone actually died in the manner described above, even if the precise details handed down to us are untrustworthy. It isn't true, for example, that rat urine is inherently "toxic and obviously lethal." But rats do sometimes carry diseases deadly to humans, in which cases their urine and feces pose a real epidemiological threat.
The emergence of this rumor may be associated with outbreaks in Asia and Central America in 1998 of a rat-borne disease known as leptospirosis. This type of bacterial infection can be quite lethal but is curable with antibiotics, and most people fully recover if they receive timely treatment.
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!
Update: Rat Droppings on Soda Cans! - Analysis includes links to more info on rat-borne illnesses.
Last updated: 05/06/09
