Since then, a few have come on the market. UPDATE: At the time this article was originally written in January of 2010, there were no completely plastic-free chewing gum choices. So, does chewing gum without plastic exist? The trouble is that we as consumers have no way of knowing which of these ingredients, if any, are included in a particular gum base because manufacturers are not required to go into any more detail!Īnd a few more points to ponder before I move on…ġ) Where does (plastic) chewing gum go after it’s ABC (already been chewed)? Is it flushed down toilets? Washed down storm drains? Hmm… just one more source of non-biodegradable plastic in our oceans?Ģ) What happens when we swallow it? Does it eventually make its way out? Or do all of us have plastic in our stomachs? Just wondering… Natural chewing gum In fact, check out the US FDA’s complete list of possible ingredients that can be included in gum base: However, according to the article, government regulators were forced to back down due to industry pressure.īut is all chewing gum made from polyvinyl acetate? If the label lists “gum base” as an ingredient, it may contain “petroleum, lanolin, glycerin, polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate, petroleum wax, stearic acid, or latex,” according to the Vegetarian Resource Group. In fact, in 2008 the Canadian government was so concerned about vinyl acetate used in the production of chewing gum that they added it to a list of substances to be considered toxic. Polyvinyl acetate? What’s that? According to the article “ Behind the Label: Chewing Gum” published this week in The Ecologist, polyvinyl acetate (a type of plastic) is manufactured using vinyl acetate, a chemical shown to cause tumors in lab rats. But…Īfter World War II, chemists learned to make synthetic rubber, which came to replace most natural rubber in chewing gum (e.g., polyethylene and polyvinyl acetate). Gum is made from plastic.Īccording to, chewing gum was originally made from tree sap called chicle, a natural rubber, and sometimes various waxes.
And I always felt guilty if it came in one of these:īut after reading some information that reader Eleanor Sommer forwarded me yesterday, I won’t be putting any of that stuff in my mouth anymore. Yeah, I knew it contained artificial flavors and wasn’t good for me. Still, if someone offered me a piece of gum, I might have accepted the random chew here and there. So it was no hardship to let go of chewing gum when I gave up products in plastic packaging. I can keep a stick of gum in my mouth for about five minutes, just enough time to suck all the flavor out, before I’m tired of chewing and starting to get that chewing gum headache.
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