CDC: Lethal soda cans a hoax

If you received an e-mail warning that a can of soda can kill you, fear not. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ruled that the death the e-mail refers to is a rumor.

The well-traveled e-mail titled “For what it’s worth!” states that the CDC investigated a claim that tops of soda cans frequently are encrusted with toxic dried rat urine. It urges consumers to wash soda cans, as well as pasta packaging, cereal boxes and anything you buy that once was stored in a warehouse.

The e-mail states that a store clerk who was cleaning a warehouse died after being exposed to the store’s inventory. A disease similar to the hantavirus, which is transmitted via rats droppings, killed the clerk, according to the e-mail.

“The e-mail report is untrue,” according to the website www.cdc.gov/hoax_ rumors.htm. “CDC could not substantiate this report of a hantavirus infection, nor has CDC been asked to participate in an investigation of the incident described in the e-mail.”??