Chewing gum releases microplastics into mouth: researchers

Just killed my joy. One my last pleasures left over.

Will sleeping be bad for me too?

Sleeping causes you to age more rapidly and die sooner, subjectively anyway.

Anyway most people eat out of take-out containers, microwavable meal plates, all the raw ingredients in restaurants and supermarkets are packaged in plastic, they drink from plastic pipes, plastic bottles, etc. We're pretty hosed on this front already.

The likelihood is that this stuff just passes through us, always has, and always will, like edible gold. But it is an easy area to bag a research grant and promote a rationale for banning anything, particularly anything derived from fossils. Hence the regular appearance of these 'dangers of microplastics' articles.

Everything we consume will have some sort of potentially negative effect upon us if you examine all of its constituent components closely enough.

The title is a bit confusing as the photo displays bubble gum rather than chewing gum. Presumably the article covers the act of chewing any gum.

I live in an area with high levels of industrial pollution that is doing me and my fellow residents way more damage than microplastics ever will. So I'll pass on worrying about this. If you are living in a dust-free environment with pure, clean air, eating the healthiest food and avoiding alcohol and all narcotics, legal or otherwise, feel free to lie awake at night fretting about microplastics in your gum.

Very true.

And don't forget the "COVID masks," which release microplastics into the lungs.

There is no comparison between the huge benefits of wearing masks to prevent a serious or even lethal infection and chewing gum.

There is no comparison between the huge benefits of wearing masks to prevent a serious or even lethal infection and chewing gum.

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Any studies to back up your opinion?

I remember not being able to afford chewing gum. We would steal tar off of the trucks retarring the roads, and chew on that. I have no idea how much plastic was in the road tar.

Virus

Yes there is is, it’s the microplastic link, plus there’s the awful environmental damage from both.

1glenn

Youre lucky you didn’t poison yourself or worse.

"I remember not being able to afford chewing gum. We would steal tar off of the trucks retarring the roads, and chew on that."

'You were lucky! We used to dream of chewing road tar! We were so poor that we had to live in a rubbish tip. We had to eat 'alf a handful of freezing-cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day down at the mill for four-pence every six years, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!' (THE FOUR YORKSHIREMEN - Monty Python)

Any studies to back up your opinion?

So you think studies are necessary to consider more beneficial to interrupt transmission from a serious, potentially deadly disease compared with chewing gum? is that your argument?

Yes there is is, it’s the microplastic link

That is not even remotely correct. It would be like saying that microplastic on syringes makes antibiotics comparable with eating candy. Risk/Benefit makes both things completely different.