Opinion: Keir Carnie
Keir Carnie, founder of Nuud, explains why he believes it’s time to spit out plastic gum for good and take legislative measures to prevent more microplastics from being unknowingly digested.
When I first heard that chewing gum was made from the same materials as car tyres, I dismissed it as nonsense. But digging deeper revealed the truth: tyre manufacturers such as Goodyear are among the major suppliers of ingredients to the global chewing gum industry. That innocuous-sounding ‘gum base’ listed on every pack hides a cocktail of plastics — polyethylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl acetate and butadiene styrene rubber. These are the same synthetic, fossil fuel derived substances found in carrier bags, car tyres and even glue. It’s hard to see how they belong anywhere near a food product, let alone one millions of young people chew every day.
Chewing gum has quietly become one of the most overlooked single-use plastics on the planet. In the UK alone, we chew four billion pieces every year — the equivalent of four billion plastic straws. Unlike straws, however, the plastics in gum are invisible to consumers, most of whom have no idea they are chewing plastic.
Research from Queen’s University Belfast reveals that just a single piece of gum can release more than 250,000 microplastic particles into the body. Microplastics have now been detected in human blood, lungs, hearts and even placentas and a growing body of evidence links them to some of the most serious health conditions of our time: strokes, cardiovascular disease, infertility and cancer. Plastic gum isn't just a major pollution problem, it's a public health threat hiding in plain sight.
What’s particularly concerning is that young people are the most impacted. Half of gum chewers in the UK are under the age of 25. Young people are unknowingly ingesting microplastics with every chew. Yet because of outdated regulations, major gum brands can legally conceal their use of plastic ingredients under the vague label ‘gum base’. It’s a corporate smokescreen that protects profits at the expense of public health.
That’s why we launched Poisoned by Plastic, a campaign powered by scientific evidence and youth activists Kids Against Plastic. Together, we are exposing the truth, demanding ingredient transparency and pushing for urgent change.
“When I first heard that chewing gum was made from the same materials as car tyres, I dismissed it as nonsense. But digging deeper revealed the truth: tyre manufacturers such as Goodyear are among the major suppliers of ingredients to the global chewing gum industry.”
In September 41 MPs signed an Early Day Motion tabled by Wera Hobhouse MP, urging the Government to take action on the issue of plastic gum. Separately 27,000 people have signed Nuud’s petition to ban plastic-based gum in the UK and earlier this year 25 Members of Scottish Parliament backed a motion for a ban across Scotland. So the issue of plastic gum is now firmly on the political agenda.
To further encourage and support regulatory change, we worked with scientists at Queen’s University Belfast as well as organizations like Just One Ocean, Common Seas, Plastic Health Council and City to Sea to create a multi-expert Policy Briefing. This calls for a four-phase approach to address the issue of plastic-based gum:
Phase 1: Mandatory transparent labelling of plastic ingredients in gum
Phase 2: Age restrictions on purchasing, restrictions on point-of-sale and mandatory health warnings on packs
Phase 3: A Plastic Health Tax, ensuring polluters pay for the harm their products cause
Phase 4: A full legislative ban on plastic-based chewing gum.
This isn’t radical, it’s the same approach we’ve been taking with plastic straws, carrier bags and, more recently, single-use vapes.
Before plastic-based gum entered the room, chewing gum was made from plant-based substances, and that’s exactly why we created Nuud, to go back to gum’s roots (literally). Our gum is made using a sustainably harvested tree sap called chicle, sourced much like maple syrup. Importantly, this delivers what people are looking for from chewing gum — freshness — but without causing harm to our bodies or the planet.
By Keir Carnie, Nuud