I'm with George Carlin on this one. The Earth created us because it couldn't make plastic for itself. Now that we have filled the Earth's plastic needs, the Earth no longer needs us.
The vast majority of cultures see no point in killing an animal and throwing any of it away. Just because you hold sentimental feelings toward your balls doesn't mean balls aren't nutritious and delicious. Now, I've never had the opportunity to eat cooked balls before, but I'd probably try them, as I have heard that they're pretty good.
These bacteria have undoubtedly been grown and regrown from a few originals in order to make enough for brewing. I'm sure that any unwanted hitchhikers have either died from lack of a suitable host (most pathogens evolve to a specific set of hosts, most of which would be extinct now), or killed off by any number of modern factors (cleaning agents, modern bacteria, etc). If old things were a threat to anyone's health, no one would crack open amber to see what used to live inside. While it's technically possible, the odds are astronomically low.
Doesn't anyone watch Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern? I didn't even flinch when I heard about this. That man puts more balls in his mouth than the village people.
Oh, and don't feed the troll like I do.
(facepalm)