If it's printed in a newspaper or a magazine or on the Internet, it's gotta be true. Only, no, not always, particularly in the case of e-mail messages that gain broadcast distribution proportions.

We've shined the light of day on rumors concerning big payoffs from Microsoft, carjacking schemes, and gang activity. Now, a dark cloud looms over a house-cleaning product.

We received an e-mail this weekend about the dangers of Magic Erasers, those most-handy tools for cleaning walls and such of, well, such and such. The message warned of severe burns to young skin because the product contains harmful chemicals.

A few red flags went up about this "warning." First, the message is more than 750 words long, which seems a little excessive for a warning that boils down to "be careful." Second, it starts off with a phrase about scrubbing walls being one of the 5-year-old boy's favorite things to do. Uh huh.

Third, it's addressed to mothers and grandmothers, like dads and granddads don't give a flip. And fourth, well, there's this.

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