I have been receiving these occassional scaremails where someone forwards you a story warning you of all the dangers that are out there in the cold dangerous world. Worst part of it is that people just forward in indiscretely to all the people in their addressbook. People don’t even try to vet the story before sending it down the line. It is because either they are too ignorant to know the truth or because they are too lazy to really do some research. I have even seen many blogs that publish these myths as a form of public service. Hogwash. We are different out here in kenneyjacob.com. We tell you truth. We now have a new segment where all the forwarded myths are mercilessly slaughtered. So, let me dissect this latest email that I received and show the truth.
Dear Friends,
Please read this carefully!
1 ) Do not drink APPY FIZZ . It contains cancer causing agent.
There is no basis for this argument and no cases whatsoever have been reported. Appy fizz is just plain apple juice which is carbonated. It may contain some preservatives and coloring agents, but they are all approved and for that matter, all fruit drink products from all companies have them.
2 ) Dont eat Mentos before or after drinking Coke or Pepsi coz the person
will die immediately as the mixture becomes cyanide.. Please fwd to whom u care
If you put a mentose in a coke/pepsi bottle, it causes the cola to fizz heavily. The earlier myth was that if you drink coke and eat menthos afterwards, your stomach would explode becaues of high pressure created by a similar reaction. Mythbusters on TV and snopes.com have proved once and for all that there is nothing harmful in drinking coke with mentos; stomach explosion or cyanide. Check it out at snopes.com
http://snopes.com/horrors/freakish/mentos.asp
Read more coke related myths here.
http://snopes.com/cokelore/cokelore.asp
3 ) Don ‘ t eat kurkure because it contains high amount of plastic if U don’ t
Believe burn kurkure n u can see plastic melting.
Please forward to all!!!!!!!!!!!
News report from Times of India
The plastic like substance that you see in kurkure is nothing but starch. Anyone who has tried over starching cotton shirts and all would recognize this shiny plastic like thing that comes when starch dries. You also see that on rice cookers after the water dries on the side of the vessel.
4 ) Avoid these tablets they are very dangerous
* D cold
* Vicks action- 500
* Actified
* Coldarin
* Cosome
* Nice
* Nimulid
* Cetrizet-D
They contain Phenyl- Propanol -Amide PPA. Which Causes strokes, and these
tablets are banned in U.S.
PPA or Phenylpropanolamine, (can’t even get the spelling right). This is the closest thing to truth that an urban legend comes. It has been found that PPA increases the risk of stroke among younger women. However, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, USA) has issued a warning, and has directed the usage to be regulated by a doctor’s prescription. This makes it easier for the doctors the assess the risks and prescribe the medicine. The medicine as such is not banned. Check out -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylpropanolamine
Still, the risk is pretty low. There have been only a handful of cases reported out of the hundreds of millions of people who have been using pills containing PPA. But since this has a small grain of truth, ye be the judge.
5 ) Cotton Ear Buds … (Must read it)
Please do not show sympathy to people selling buds on roadside or at
Signals…… Just wanted to warn you people not to buy those packs of
ear buds you
get at the roadside. It ‘ s made from cotton that has already been used
in hospitals. They take all the dirty, blood and pus filled cotton,
wash it, bleach it
and use it to make ear buds. So, unless you want to become the first
person in the world to get Herpes Zoster Oticus (a viral infection of
the inner, middle, and external ear) of the ear and that too from a
cotton bud, DON ‘ T BUY THEM!
Please forward to all this may be helpful for someone………….
Here, I talked to two people about this. One is a doctor and then a friend of mine who is into manufacturing a lot of stuff near Coimbatore. Here are the two points that proves why this is just an urban legend.
- The doctor told me that he has checked out the cotton buds that you get on the roadside. What he says is that, if somehow people manage to wash and bleach the used cotton to make it to such good condition, the process automatically kills any microorganism that may have been in there. Anyway, he doubts that it is recycled cotton. The reason comes from the next point.
- The manufacturer guy told me that the total cost of a company to manufacture, and distribute through traditional supply chain channels is very small. From the out-of-factory-door cost, at each level of the distribution line, the markup is usually high, so that usually the MRP would be around 4 or 5 times the out of door cost. So what that suggest is that the cost of fresh cotton (as opposed to using used cotton) is only a very small part of the total cost of manufacturing. They might even incur more expense in doing the extra cleaning/bleaching needed for used cotton. Fresh cotton needs much less processing.
The bottomline is that it is easy to assume this myth to be true, but the buds that you get on the street are not any more dangerous than the one that you would find at a pharmacy. Of course, it is of slightly poorer quality, but there is nothing dangerous in there. And did I forget to mention that Herpes Zoster Oticus is a skin rash and not an infection in the ear? Checkout – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster
6) Don ‘ t put your mobile closer to your ears until the recipient answers,
Because directly after dialing, the mobile phone would use it ‘ s maximum
signaling power, which is: 2watts = 33dbi.
Please Be Careful. Please use left ear while using cell (mobile), because
if you use the right one it may affect brain directly. This is a true fact
from Apollo medical team.
Forward this to maximum people
Whom You Care….!
The hoax of Appollo medical team claiming that using left or right ear on a cell phone is disproved lont time ago. It is just crap. There is no evidence to suggest that using the left ear will in any way decrease such risks. – check this out – http://www.hoax-slayer.com/use-left-ear-mobile.html
Signalling power (watts) and antenna gain (dbi) are totally different things. The antenna gain is a measure of the signal strength in a particular direction relative to an ideal situation where the antinna radiation goes to all directions. Check out – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antenna_gain
The power of a cell phone signal before a call is connected is higher in a relative sense. But as an absolute measure, the effect of both are about the same for the human body. I also saw this claim about cell phones cooking an egg in a news paper. (Manorama? HA!) It is nothing much shock journalism. False. Lie. Checkout- http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp
So folks, if you get any more of these crap, just send a note, put that as a comment here. We will bust those urban legends.
nice post….
Comment by JAX — February 7, 2009 @ 8:01 am
Hey man…U completed the whole thing. I got the same mail and I did find one or two instances of these in snopes but I was far too lazy to go and do the research for all of them… Anyway, I’ll reply to that mail with the link to this article
Comment by The Nomad — February 7, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
Great post
Comment by p@r@noid — February 8, 2009 @ 6:23 am
Of late, such urban legends are on the rise here in India. Nice research you’ve put up!
Comment by Thilak — February 9, 2009 @ 3:23 am
It is really a great post. After what people have been forwarding to their friends and their network, a news which no one knew the truth about. Here is an apt example and a great way to dissolve all those rumors by giving the real truth behind them.
Comment by Jessica — February 9, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
great post!!
Comment by Aswin — February 11, 2009 @ 10:52 pm
i knew it …its all bullshit…thankx a lot for the explanations
Comment by Aashima — March 2, 2009 @ 1:02 pm
Thank you very much for this post. Definitely helpful to a lot of people.
Comment by Raj — March 10, 2009 @ 5:11 am
Nice post!
I too got this email. I read and then deleted it. :p
I don’t mind getting forwards, but I don’t like forwarding emails. Nothing irritating as that.
Comment by Carb0n — March 10, 2009 @ 5:56 am
The detailed clarification is pretty useful. It bursts the myth. Keep it up
Comment by Udayan Shah — April 19, 2009 @ 6:06 am
Great post!.. thanks for posting the ‘real’ truth out there!…
Comment by hkarthi — May 5, 2009 @ 7:49 am
appreciate ur effort 2 go 4 d truth…. its simply gr8
Comment by Aditi Dey — May 13, 2009 @ 4:43 pm
Superb explanation, it really hepl me save lot of time for researching such bullshit content … thanks again
Comment by himanshu — May 20, 2009 @ 4:37 am
Great! I am really impressed:) I m sure it will open up many people vision and thinking.
Comment by subh — May 20, 2009 @ 10:17 am
Awesome one…I copy pasted the entire thing along with your link to this site…Absolutely ridiculous what ppl say…
Comment by Sheen — May 22, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
[...] Don’t believe in all the forwards, most of them are pure scam. Here is the Ultimate Myth-Buster of e-mail Forwards. [...]
Pingback by Forward Emails Responsibly and Help Fight Spam | Million Clues! — May 27, 2009 @ 1:08 pm
Boy, that was rocking. You did some original research- WOW!
I had looked for this post when I wrote one on Email Spam, but your server was down. (I double checked by ping-ing and yes, it was down at that time, thanks to Kenney’s local hosting
). Just added the link now 
Some related crap would be the emails that say, we would win a Sony Ericson if we forward the emails to 20 friends, or Yahoo would pay some anonymous guy 0.01 $ for every emails. Those are pure blunders, I don’t get such forwards these days, I guess most people know that now.
Good job here guys..
Comment by Arun Basil Lal — May 27, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
Nice post. I was also trying to get some information on such mails, and I reached the right place. If you dont mind, I am using your link in my blog for the same cause.
http://dahsin.blogspot.com/2006/09/anti-forwardism.html
Comment by Nishad — June 9, 2009 @ 2:18 pm
finally!!! its about time that someone cleared this out for everyone…
and would you believe the number of sites that have posted that mail?? for instance i eat mentos and i drink coke… and im sure that i have done both of them at the same time… but well here i am still alive!!
sadly it wasnt that easy to find a site that said the truth about these mails vs the bloggers….
but great job done here!!!
btw ive also heard about a rumor that the chemical used to make lights cigarettes actually makes you more prone to cancer…. well i dont know if that is true and didnt get to go around it… but if you do have an answer to that just let me know!
Comment by kieferace — June 26, 2009 @ 11:41 pm
There is some half truth in that cigarette rumor. No, it is not any chemical that makes it more dangerous. It is just that light cigarettes are easier to smoke (as in the bite is less) and this would lead to more youngsters getting into the habit and thus getting cancer in the long run.
Comment by Domestic Avalanche — June 27, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
Great:)
Comment by Samir Rakshit — July 24, 2009 @ 3:42 pm
hey.. Great post..
Comment by Saranjith — September 2, 2009 @ 10:21 am
herpes zoster oticus is in fact an ear infection, where ever the word “oti” comes it means something related to the ear.
i am a medical student, you can confirm it nonetheless
Comment by miral — September 23, 2009 @ 11:44 pm
hey man uv actually done a great job. I too received this mail and now all my doubts are cleared. Keep up ur good work
Comment by Dharti — March 21, 2010 @ 2:57 pm
Hey man uv actually done a great job. I received this mail too and i m glad that its all fake. Keep up ur good job
Comment by Dharti — March 21, 2010 @ 2:58 pm
[...] No Plastic in Kurkure I guess am a little late in here but never too late to post my views, I guess. This is just a forwarded mail. It is just a hoax with no truth in it. As for Kurkure, there is no truth in the hoax that there is plastic in Kurkure. Kurkure is a new age namkeen and is completely safe for consumption as it is made from edible ingredients that we use in our daily kitchen. For more facts on Kurkure containing plastic issue, visit here: http://kurkure.in/FAQ.aspx. Visit here for detailed information on other products mentioned in the post here: http://www.kenneyjacob.com/2009/02/0…ing-fwd-mails/ [...]
Pingback by Some Interesting Facts - BizHat Forums — March 30, 2010 @ 1:54 pm
thanks man! people actually stop buying kurkure, etc cos of this hoax. i almost began to believe, but ur post delivered me. i’ll put ur piece to public use here in my place in a newspaper with due acknowlegement. may u live long!
Comment by chhuana — April 1, 2010 @ 10:29 pm
Hi Thanks for your your informative post… it really helped me.
here is another link which i got through chain mail which claims that 82 years old person is in fasting for 70 years… is it true, will you kindly clarify if possible.
http://www.themedguru.com/20100508/newsfeature/82-year-old-indian-healthy-after-7-decades-fasting-86134962.html
Regards,
Vijay
Comment by Vijay — May 13, 2010 @ 3:32 pm
great work…removes a lot of doubts. i never knew there could be such time wasting bluffs floating around until now.
Comment by Sanjay Roy — July 23, 2010 @ 12:12 pm
i have been receiving emails that women should not bath or shower during menstruation as it will cause some reproductive problems. i researched on it and its not true at all.
in fact during menstruation women should be more hygienic and wash themselves regularly.
Comment by jia — October 21, 2010 @ 8:24 pm
thanks man….gud one to end the chain of such mails….thanks again for all answer on single page…
Comment by sm — November 16, 2010 @ 11:44 pm
Forward this to 17 people:
“Om White Mischief-aaya namah”
Forward the above mantra to 17 people and get a full bottle of Royal Stag Whiskey in 3 days.
Pollachi Muniyaandi deleted this message and his peg of wine fell down and broke.
Chappidi Thimmaiyyah sent this mail to 28 people and he got a cask full of champagne from the street.
This is true. Real miracle. Please don’t delete this message. FORWARD IT…!!!
Comment by Syam Sankar — May 5, 2011 @ 9:28 pm
Can anyone analyze if this is hoax too..
Dangerous Shampoo!!!
Banned By Dubai Government!!
Sodium Laureth Sulfate
SLS
CLEAR , FRUCTIS ,
Vo5, Palmolive, Paul Mitchell, L’Oreal, Body Soap
All these Shampoos use a chemical called SLS which is actually a floor cleaner. They are used so as to produce more foam.
Imagine what a floor cleaner can do to you hair and scalp.. It will damage the very roots of your scalp.
Check out for SLS in toothpaste too!!!
Use the ones which are free from this extremely harmful chemical.
Type in ‘SLS Free Shampoo’ or ‘SLS Free Toothpaste’ in Google.Com to get a list of companies selling safe products
Attention please…..
Don’t eat Kurkure because it contains high amount of plastic if U don’t believe burn Kurkure n U can see plastic melting. Please forward to all!!!!!!!!!!! Inform all whom you think requires this message as they eat Kurkure.
News report from Times of India
Avoid these tablets they are very dangerous
§ D Cold
§ Vicks Action- 500
§ Actifed
§ Coldarin
§ Cosome
§ Nice
§ Nimulid
§ Cetrizet-D
They contain Phenyl- Propanol -Amide PPA.Which causes strokes, and these tablets are banned by FDA in U.S.
Comment by Anitha — August 19, 2011 @ 1:05 pm