Warning, Warning! Internet Hoaxes Abound

Many of us are concerned these days about where our food is coming from, and what is being added to it. The growth of the movement for organic produce and organic and free-range meat and dairy products is evidence of this.
Many times, well-meaning people, who are concerned about food and tainted products pass along Internet hoaxes that warns people of contamination. I received one such hoax email this morning from a well-meaning friend. The hoax warned people about chocolates and well-known cookies and snacks made by household name companies contaminated with melamine. The hoax also contained a Snopes link, which, I suppose gave it legitimacy for my friend.
The problem is when I checked into the email, it was completely false. While the companies mentioned were having some contamination problems overseas, none of the companies used contaminated products in U.S. based manufacturing.
Who knows what motivation people have to start these false rumors - a disgruntled former employee, or someone who thought they were otherwise wronged by these companies, maybe. One could argue, I suppose, that maybe these emails originated in the countries affected, but this particular hoax specifically warned parents about Halloween and their children possible eating contaminated chocolate. While Halloween is gaining popularity in some other countries, it is still a largely U.S. based holiday.
The larger problems these hoaxes sometimes create is that the hoaxes become so widely spread and known that they actually affect sales for these companies to the negative. One such example was a popular air freshner a few years ago that was supposedly linked to pet deaths. In this economy, U.S. based companies are having a hard enough time keeping their workforce employed without having to also fight unfounded Internet hoaxes.
I know it wasn't my friend's intention that someone may lose their job today over sagging sales because of a hoax, but I hope that everyone considers this before spreading such rumors.
It only takes about 5 minutes to check out the email at www.snopes.com and if the scare isn't worth 5 minutes of your time, consider the possibility that it isn't important enough to forward anyway and hit "delete" instead.
We have enough real threats in the world right now without perpetuating myths.