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Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds

wkat4242 2y ago
I'm not surprised as it's really just plastic that you're chewing these days. The original natural variants are way too expensive.
- create-username 2y ago
  Somebody should just sell reused tire scraps as chewing gum replacements. The artificial substitutes are still much too expensive
- LarsAlereon 2y ago
  The article mentions there was no difference between synthetic and natural gums in terms of microplastics released.
ricardobeat 2y ago
I would like to see the origin of plastics in the “natural” gums explained. Is it simply mislabeling/fraud?
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  Synthetic and natural rubber are polymers that break down into smaller polymer particles (usually—whether synthetic or natural—this would strictly be micro-rubbers rather than micro-plastics, but other than the former being elastic, they have pretty similar properties and issues, and micro-plastics seems frequently to be used in a way which includes rather than being distinguished from micro-rubbers.)
  - ricardobeat 2y ago
    They mention PE/PP which I don’t think are found in natural rubber? This article is making the rounds on news media at the moment without any attention to this, seems a bit suspicious.
more-nitor 2y ago
idk labeling everything "microplastic" doesn't seem ok I mean, shouldn't different plastics (PE, PP, etc) have different effects?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- giuliomagnifico 2y ago
  But they are all mixed together, like sand, that's why they don't separate the specific type of plastic but use a generic "microplastics”
  - nahlies 2y ago
    “Mixed together like sand” ?
    - collingreen 2y ago
      Sand is a bunch of tiny bits of a variety of things - we usually don't say micro-silica, micro-quartz, micro-etc and just bundle it together and describe the group as sand (unless explicitly trying to talk about an individual piece).
      - more-nitor 2y ago
        ...and wouldn't that actually be problematic in health-related research? I mean, it seems like saying copper/iron/titanium/lead are all "metal"
xattt 2y ago
I’m having a hard time conceptualizing how the plastic is shed. Do the fragments not reintegrate back into the gum bolus at the next pass/chew of the gum?
- Llamamoe 2y ago
  Plastic is not metal, it's a tangle of polymer subunits that get scraped off relatively easily. Whenever you scrape a plastic container with an utensil or finger, or even just from water being poured out of a bottle, a small amount of microplastics is released, and I think we can agree that chewing is a WAY more abrasive of a process.
  - throwaway290 2y ago
    I don't know about pouring water but reusing disposable crumpling water bottles is the best way to get more plastic in your body
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

I'm not surprised as it's really just plastic that you're chewing these days. The original natural variants are way too expensive.

create-username 2y ago
Somebody should just sell reused tire scraps as chewing gum replacements. The artificial substitutes are still much too expensive
LarsAlereon 2y ago
The article mentions there was no difference between synthetic and natural gums in terms of microplastics released.

ricardobeat 2y ago

I would like to see the origin of plastics in the “natural” gums explained. Is it simply mislabeling/fraud?

dragonwriter 2y ago
Synthetic and natural rubber are polymers that break down into smaller polymer particles (usually—whether synthetic or natural—this would strictly be micro-rubbers rather than micro-plastics, but other than the former being elastic, they have pretty similar properties and issues, and micro-plastics seems frequently to be used in a way which includes rather than being distinguished from micro-rubbers.)
- ricardobeat 2y ago
  They mention PE/PP which I don’t think are found in natural rubber? This article is making the rounds on news media at the moment without any attention to this, seems a bit suspicious.

more-nitor 2y ago

idk labeling everything "microplastic" doesn't seem ok I mean, shouldn't different plastics (PE, PP, etc) have different effects?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
giuliomagnifico 2y ago
But they are all mixed together, like sand, that's why they don't separate the specific type of plastic but use a generic "microplastics”
- nahlies 2y ago
  “Mixed together like sand” ?
  - collingreen 2y ago
    Sand is a bunch of tiny bits of a variety of things - we usually don't say micro-silica, micro-quartz, micro-etc and just bundle it together and describe the group as sand (unless explicitly trying to talk about an individual piece).
    - more-nitor 2y ago
      ...and wouldn't that actually be problematic in health-related research? I mean, it seems like saying copper/iron/titanium/lead are all "metal"

xattt 2y ago

I’m having a hard time conceptualizing how the plastic is shed. Do the fragments not reintegrate back into the gum bolus at the next pass/chew of the gum?

Llamamoe 2y ago
Plastic is not metal, it's a tangle of polymer subunits that get scraped off relatively easily. Whenever you scrape a plastic container with an utensil or finger, or even just from water being poured out of a bottle, a small amount of microplastics is released, and I think we can agree that chewing is a WAY more abrasive of a process.
- throwaway290 2y ago
  I don't know about pouring water but reusing disposable crumpling water bottles is the best way to get more plastic in your body

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]