The Q-Tip Conspiracy, or How a French Canadian Met the Reaper

I don’t use Q-tips.  I always thought that made me weird.  As it turns out, maybe it saved my life.  That is if I was stupid enough to jam cotton swabs into my ear canals up to the hilt.

From CBCNews here:

The Quebec coroner’s office says cotton swab manufacturers should warn consumers about putting their product in their ears after a man died from related complications.

In a report released Tuesday, Quebec coroner Dr. Jacques Ramsay said using a cotton swab even once to clean inside ears can lead to fatal consequences.

Ramsay investigated the death of Montreal resident Daniel St-Pierre, who died in March 2007, two days after he accidentally pierced his eardrum with a cotton swab.

St-Pierre, 43, died of meningitis-induced intracranial complications caused by a bacterial ear infection that he developed after accidentally piercing his eardrum with a cotton swab while trying to treat a painful earache.

The best way to clean inside one’s ear is with the little finger, he said.

Oh, I thought it was the Car Key or the Paper Clip.