Did you know that chewing gum is artificially-flavoured plastic?
Why? The base layer of chewing gum is a synthetic rubber made out of plastic (polyvinyl acetate, or polyisobutylene), the same type which is used to make car tires. This means that, like all other plastics, chewing gum takes forever to break down. To be exact, minimum 500 years (meaning you can’t compost it).
Fortunately, chewing gum does travel relatively smoothly through your digestive system. I.e., if you accidently swallow it, it won’t remain in the pit of your stomach for the rest of your life. However, if you swallow too many gums in one session it could lead to diarrhoea and bloating.
The most extreme example of eating gum were these 4-year-olds in America who ate too much. They had to have surgery to remove the sticky plastic balls that had formed at the pits of their stomachs.
Artificial? It’s artificially-flavoured because it's classed as "sugar free". The chewing gum which the popular brands produce, including: Wrigley’s Extra, Airwaves, Orbit, and Hubba Bubba, all do this. A frequent example of the sugar alternative is aspartame, with the possible health risk being an increased risk of (breast or testicular) cancer.
What can you do? Some suggestions for dealing with this micro-plastic issue are:
•
Buying natural chewing gum from brands like Chewsy, Simply Gum, and Georganics
Did you know that chewing gum is artificially-flavoured plastic?
Why? The base layer of chewing gum is a synthetic rubber made out of plastic (polyvinyl acetate, or polyisobutylene), the same type which is used to make car tires. This means that, like all other plastics, chewing gum takes forever to break down. To be exact, minimum 500 years (meaning you can’t compost it).
Fortunately, chewing gum does travel relatively smoothly through your digestive system. I.e., if you accidently swallow it, it won’t remain in the pit of your stomach for the rest of your life. However, if you swallow too many gums in one session it could lead to diarrhoea and bloating.
The most extreme example of eating gum were these 4-year-olds in America who ate too much. They had to have surgery to remove the sticky plastic balls that had formed at the pits of their stomachs.
Artificial? It’s artificially-flavoured because it's classed as "sugar free". The chewing gum which the popular brands produce, including: Wrigley’s Extra, Airwaves, Orbit, and Hubba Bubba, all do this. A frequent example of the sugar alternative is aspartame, with the possible health risk being an increased risk of (breast or testicular) cancer.
What can you do? Some suggestions for dealing with this micro-plastic issue are:
•
Buying natural chewing gum from brands like Chewsy, Simply Gum, and Georganics