Because of course it is…

  • woop_woop@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    206
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    5 days ago

    Polymer != Plastic. Plastic is a polymer, but not all polymers are plastic. Wtf is this source.

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      46
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      5 days ago

      A lot of gum base is made from plastic. Below are some more sources.

      • polyethylene
      • vinyl acetate

      These ingredients are hidden behind “trade secrets” so they aren’t listed on the wrapper.

      The irony about asking if gum could be made from a plant source — what do you think it was made from originally? I’d much rather chew on chickle than something that’s going to deposit petroleum-based microplastics in my gut. I get enough of that from food packaging already. “Natural” gum bases still exist and if you Google around you can find lists of chewing gums that still use them.

      https://www.greenmemag.com/health-nutrition/microplastics-found-in-popular-sugar-free-gum-brands-swiss-study-reveals/

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gum_base&wprov=rarw1

      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969723063878

      • woop_woop@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        24
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        4 days ago

        Your first link is about micro plastics, and they even say not all brands have them. So if a product is made of plastic and doesn’t always contain micro plastics (which are found in the air and water and soil and foods), then…polymers might not actually be plastics sometimes. Or in gum, many times.

        • pixeltree@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          4 days ago

          Random person who took a material science course in college here, polymers like polyethylene are constructed from their component monomers in chemical reactions. Not all monomers end up in a polymer chain, and some remain trapped in the material. These are what leeches out of the plastic over time. Better manufacturing processes have cut down a lot on this over time but it’s not something that can be eliminated entirely. These are also referred to as micro plastics sometimes, and sometimes not–it depends on the knowledge of the person speaking and whether or not it suits their point. Anyways, there’s your not so fun fact for the day.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        4 days ago

        Well I’m glad you have this secret knowledge of the plastics hidden from everyone but you.

        Phew!

    • treadful@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      ·
      5 days ago

      It does cite an FDA statement and federal regulations that allow polyethylene as an allowed ingredient in “gum base.” Other sources are more broad just calling it “polymers.”

      But this points out that “gum base” is a very vague term that can include lots of ingredients. Which kinda sucks.

    • DazeOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      4 days ago

      Like another response stated, the big concern to me was the ambiguity that companies are allowed to have behind “gum base” as an ingredient, and this article dove into that more than others I could find on short notice.

      I have no buy-in to the source, so please downvote and report to remove it for infactual information! I will leave it here to foster thoughts and discussion around unusual sources of unexpected materials we may unwittingly put into our bodies.

      I’ll admit lately I get more than freaked out anytime I hear about potential microplastics getting into my system orally. It would be a relief to know this is a false alarm, though I’ll still personally be looking into alternatives instead of grabbing whatever off the checkout lane next time.

      • subignition@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        4 days ago

        It’s largely not worth freaking out over, in the sense that they are ubiquitous enough that it’s impossible to meaningfully avoid. By all means reduce your exposure if you can do so without great inconvenience, but we are all collectively inundated with the stuff and just have to wait for science to figure out what effects (if any) it will have. “Only worry about what you can control” and all that.