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Roach Eggs On Your Tongue

Recently I heard a report on radio that says it is very dangerous to drink straight from a soda can for the following reasons:

1. In the factory these cans often sit in one place and can be a haven for roaches to lay their small eggs, especially on the top because of it's design

2. Then if you drink from the can the eggs can get stuck to your tongue and begin to grow due to the heat and moisture from your body.

I also heard that this was based on finding some people with diseases related to the tongue and after researching their paterns realized that it was coming from the soda pop cans they drunk from without a straw.

Tongue Your Eggs Roach

Many people wipe off any can before drinking from it. Some wash the top of the can.

Personally, I very rarely use cans at all.

Roach Eggs On Your Tongue Health & Special Psychology

That is true, but I do not think simple wiping cleans adequately enough to prevent germs unless the can is actually washed clean even with soap. Some people also think that by using a straw is good enough... and that may be true if the open part does not sink into the drink, but rather peels back.

Another element to consider is water / juice bags which can absorb dirty water through the plastic when floating in ice coolers, etc.

Tongue Your Eggs Roach

I don't drink from cans either, unless I am at some event where only cans are being served. I generally drink from the 20 or 24 oz bottles. I do admit that the phenomenon described here is not unbelievable, but one would figure that it would be fairly obvious to see a roach egg on the top of a soda can. On the other hand, I guess if you're not paying attention then anything is possible. Nighthawk, I think you give too many people too much credit. I wouldn't be surprised if out of 100 people surveyed, only about 30 practise such cleanliness or common sense.

Tongue Your Eggs Roach

Okay guys, I commonly drink from pop cans and I do not wipe them off or exercise such common sense. But I've heard something similar about a woman who got infected with roach eggs by licking envelopes. The problem is that this is an urban legend. From what I can tell and malexander states roach eggs are not microscopic so they could be seen by potential pop drinkers. I can't find anything that supports this stroy and would be interested to see if anyone else could.
-Unferth

Roach Eggs On Your Tongue

Unferth is right. There are tons of these urban legends. With the advent of the internet, they spread much more quickly and are far more wide spread.

Here is a link to one site that describes many of them. https://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBUrbanMyths.shtml The soda can one isn't listed, but the glue on the envelope is. So, even though that specific one isn't listed on this site, I think, it is likely it, too, is an urban legend.

I drink from soda cans all the time and I don't wash the top off. I will usually wipe the top off with a napkin, though. I do this, just to remove surface dirt.

Edited: funbikerchick on 7th Apr, 2005 - 10:30am

Roach Eggs Your Tongue

This is not a report from the internet. In my first post I clearly mentioned that I heard this while listening to the Radio, however, because this was in passing I did not pick-up the references although they normally give them. However, here are some net based resources:

The study of roach movements and does claim that roaches use cans among other things to lay eggs (beer cans)
https://www.ocvcd.org/bulletins/No.%2021%20Cockroaches.pdf

Also, remember roach eggs do come in various sizes - for instance german roaches are very small. Indeed, even if you did not actually see roach eggs you are still at very great risk from the urine and filth the roach leaves behind.

Roach Eggs Your Tongue Psychology Special & Health

Even if your source is not from the internet, it is possible the person on the radio is repeating an urban legend.

From what I read of your link, they will lay eggs in the container that the cans are in, for example. So, if the grocery store is infested, I could bring roaches home to my house. However, if the can is closed when it gets to the store, they can't be in the can. They could be hiding and laying eggs in the box the cans come in. They could walk across my cans, etc., but if the roach contact with that can was truly dangerous, I would have died a long time ago. So would many others. I see the article does say they are known to carry disease by walking from one area to another, but I haven't really heard of any cases where this has happened. So, for me, I will continue to drink my soda and not worry about it.

I just don't think this is possible. How are they going to get stuck on my tongue for a long enough time? Roaches aren't so small that I wouldn't know if one was growing in my mouth, I don't think.

Maybe this is a bigger problem in less developed nations. We have roaches in the States and I am sure grocery stores and even restaurants have them. However, we have inspectors and regulators whose job it is to keep this problem under control.

Roaches were a bigger issue for me when I lived in the South. I haven't had to deal with them at all now that I am back in New England, except in the first apartment I rented when I moved back.

Edited: funbikerchick on 7th Apr, 2005 - 3:32pm