Questionable Argument

The Pepsi Company has taken an interesting position about the 2009 mouse-in-the-Mountain-Dew-can lawsuit that is still dragging on. They are claiming that if a mouse had been sealed in the can at the time of manufacture the soda would have dissolved it. There is a charming little factoid about a product we put in our bodies provided to us by the company that makes it.
     Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 03, 2012
     Category:





Comments
That whole story is so very foul and disgusting! :sick:
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/03/12 at 10:05 PM
The colas have been known to dissolve metal at an alarming rate since Ralff was a pup. The stuff was/is even a good cleaner for battery corrosion. (This used to happen on the older car batteries back in the olden days.) But I remember critters being and other organic objects being found in bottles (that was in the olden days too when actual reusable glass bottles were used) so I'm not too sure I believe their claim.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/03/12 at 10:52 PM
I'd say it's half true. Pepsi (or Coke, for that matter) is perfectly capable of dissolving the critter, but there's just not enough of it in one bottle or can to finish the job.

I heard a rumor many years ago that the Coke bottling plant has to replace its stainless steel piping every four years.
Posted by TheCannyScot in Atlanta, GA on 01/03/12 at 11:30 PM
Sounds like the gas used for carbonation.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/04/12 at 04:13 AM
Why should they get to have all the fun??
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 01/04/12 at 09:35 AM
A while back the show mythbusters did a segment on cola myths.
They found most of them false, the one that applies here is it did NOT dissolve steak. It did make a dent in the tooth they soaked in it, but did not dissolve that either.
I know, cola is not mountain dew but the PH levels are very close. And phosphoric acid (in coke/pepsi) is more corrosive than
citric acid.
Posted by Tyrusguy on 01/04/12 at 11:17 AM
Let's flip it around for a minute here. If the thing about replacing stainless pipe frequently is true then what, besides soda, are we ingesting. Metals ect. that, perhaps, the body can not dispose of?
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 01/04/12 at 11:40 AM
This link is a more scientific explanation from Pepsi:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=18753533&nid=711

And this one is a response from a another smart guy citing tests done with Mountain Dew and bones in the past:

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/05/9980804-mountain-dew-offers-odd-defense-in-mouse-charge

Verdict . . . this Ball guy doesn't have a chance and in regards to destroying your bones OJ would be just as harmful as Mountain Dew. I still doubt drinking Mountain Dew everyday is a good thing though.
Posted by Pablo on 01/06/12 at 10:03 PM
Much as I hate to advocate alcohol here, brandy was often used to preserve biological samples for long trips in the days of the European explorers; The first specimens of koalas arrived in England in brandy casks ( although one did not survive as the brandy was tapped and drunk on the voyage . . . )

Several sailors who died at sea where preserved in the same manner. Given that brandy in that time was as sweet as modern soft drinks or Jewish wines, it's not obvious how the decay and/or dissolution would happen.
Posted by D F Stuckey on 03/31/12 at 04:11 AM
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