Chewing Gum: A sticky problem
People have been chewing on substances made from plants, grasses, and resins for a long time. The Ancient Greeks chewed mastic gum, made from the resin of the mastic tree. The Chinese used ginseng plant roots and the Mayans and Aztecs used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base for making a gum-like substance. But modern-day chewing gum was mainly commercialized in the United States where the American Indians chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees. The New England settlers picked up this practice, and in 1848, John B. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. For the first half of the 20th century, natural gum was used in most commercial production of chewing gum worldwide. After WWII polyvinyl acetate came to replace the natural chicle sap in conventional gum. In order to mask the chemical plasticky taste of the new synthetic gum base, manufacturers added sweeteners, flavorings, and softeners made of a host of other food-like ingredients.
Photo: Marc Newberry
Polyvinyl acetate is a sticky polymer found in white glue and serves as the film-forming ingredient in water-based (latex) paints. It is produced using a chemical called vinyl acetate. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined as possibly carcinogenic to humans. Yikes. When you read the label of chewing gum though, you won’t know that there are plastics in it. Usually the first ingredient listed is “gum base”. The composition of this gum base is considered proprietary information, but it may contain “petroleum, lanolin, glycerin, polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate, petroleum wax, stearic acid, or latex.” The three main components that make up all gum bases are: resin, wax, and elastomer. Resin is the main chewable portion, wax softens the gum and elastomers add flexibility. The molecular composition of gum base is very similar to that of plastics and rubbers. Other possible ingredients that fall under the umbrella of gum base can be found on the FDA´s website.
I would think no one really wants to be chewing on plastics, but another problem is when people throw their chewing gum away. Unaware that it is in fact made with plastic, many people throw their chewing gum out on the streets, which is not only a sticky problem for other people, but also a plastic pollution problem. From the pieces of chewing gum in the environment come microplastics that end up in the drains and float out into the ocean.
There are alternatives in the market that don’t contain plastics and are made with natural gum, like True Gum and Simply Gum.
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