Scientists warn against the effects of chewing rubber. It’s about a microplastik

As part of the scientific experiment, employees of the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) studied the contents of the microplastics in chewing gum. These particles seem ubiquitous in our time and were found in various organs of the human body, including the brain, kidneys, liver, placenta or testicles.

Mikroplastik in chewing gum. Scientists have examined this issue

Specialists estimate that people can unknowingly consume tens of thousands of microplastic particles each year. They are afraid of what impact it may have on our health. Previous studies on animal and human cells show that a microplastik is able to cause damage to the body.

– Our goal is not to frighten anyone – emphasized the author of the article by Professor Sanjay Mohanty. “Scientists are not sure if the microplastik is dangerous for us or not,” he said. – There are no people tests. We know that we are exposed to plastic every day and this is what we wanted to examine here – he emphasized.

Chewing rubber releases microplastics to saliva

In their work, the team of Professor Mohanty conducted a series of experiments with the participation of 10 different brands of widely available chewing gum. 5 natural and 5 synthetic products were used. The former were based on plant polymers. The latter used polymers based on oil.

First, each piece of rubber was chewed by the tester for four minutes. Every 30 seconds a saliva sample was taken. Then the lips were rinsed with water and the process for another brand of rubber was repeated. In the second experiment, saliva was only taken after 20 minutes of chewing.

Researchers counted microplastic particles, dyeing them red and observing them under a microscope. This method, however, was not perfect, because only particles wide at least 20 micrometers were separated.

Ultimately, it was found that an average of 100 particles of microplastics released from a gram of rubber, although some pieces had as many as 600 to one hundred gram. This gives up to 3,000 microplastic particles released to the mouth.

Conclusions of chewing gum research

To the surprise of scientists, it turned out that synthetic rubbers are not worse in this respect than natural. They release similar amounts of particles. The experiment also showed that the lion’s part of the microplastic was released during the first two minutes of chewing. A value of 94 percent was reached up to 8 minutes.

The researchers’ recommendation was that if we want to keep the chewing gum habit, we should use individual pieces instead of pulling new pieces of rubber every now and then. Finally, it was also noted that plastic released to saliva is just a small fraction of what remains in Guma. It was emphasized that we should not throw it out of the basket or stick it to the walls.