Ball pit email......scary and gross

Ok, I dont normally even bother to read these emails, let alone feel the need to tell anyone else about them.  I usually approach with a fair amount of sceptism.  But this got me....could just be my hyper hygeinic preggy mind at the moment.

PLEASE READ THIS!! DO NOT IGNORE IF YOU LOVE YOUR
KIDS/NIECES/NEPHEWS
McDonalds, Burger king, Time Zone... All places with ball pits in the
children's play area.
One of my sons lost his watch, and was very upset.  We dug and dug in those
balls, trying to find his watch.
Instead, we found vomit, food, faeces, and other stuff I do not want to
discuss.

I went to the manager and raised hell.. Come to find out, the ball pit is
only cleaned out once a month. I have doubts that it is even done that
often.
My kids will never play in another ball pit.

Some of you might not be parents, but you may have nieces, nephews,
grandchildren, or friends with children.

This will pertain to you too. As I read the following, my heart sank.

I urge each and every one of you to pass this on to as many people as you
can. I cannot stress how important this is!

Hi. My name is Lauren Archer, my son Kevin and I lived in Melbourne ,
Australia .
On October 2nd, 1999 I took my only son to McDonald's for his 3rd birthday.


After he finished lunch, I allowed him to play in the ball pit. When he
started whining later on, I asked him what was wrong, he pointed to the
back of his pull-up and simply said 'Mommy, it hurts.' I couldn't find
anything wrong with him at that time. I bathed him when we got home, and it
was at that point when I found a welt on his left buttock.

Upon investigating, it seemed as if there was something like a splinter
under
the welt. I made an appointment to see the doctor the next day, but soon
he started vomiting and shaking, then his eyes rolled back into his head.
>From there, we went to the emergency room. He died later that night.

It turned out that the welt on his buttock was the tip of a hypodermic
needle that had broken off inside.

The autopsy revealed that Kevin had died from a heroine overdose. The next
week, the police removed the balls from the ball pit. There was rotten
food, several hypodermic needles: some full, some used; knives, half-eaten
candy, diapers, faeces, and the stench of urine.

Don't think it's just McDonald's either. A little boy had been playing in
a ball pit @ a Burger King & started complaining of his legs hurting. He
later died too. He was found to have snake bites all over his legs &
buttocks. When they cleaned the ball pit they found that there was a
snake's nest in the ball pit.. He had suffered numerous bites from a very
poisonous snake.

Repost this if it scares the crap out of you!! Repost this if you care
about kids!! Please forward this to all loving mothers, fathers and anyone
who loves and cares for children!! What has this world come to?? If a child
is not safe in a child's play area then where??

so my normal sceptism should be trusted

I dont like things like that as its all the snot and goobs over all the balls that gets me.  Watching how much Tom puts in his mouth makes me realise others do it too.  A ltille immunity is fine but I wonder how much icky stuff is on it too.  I'm becoming over protective arent I??

I was also going to say is it a hoax. I was a McD's girl as well and the balls were cleaned once a week where I worked and the whole playground cleaned nightly.