A recent pilot study by UCLA researchers found that chewing gum can release thousands of microplastics into saliva. While the study's findings are preliminary and await peer review, they highlight the pervasive issue of microplastic pollution. Lead researcher Sanjay Mohanty emphasized that the intent is not to alarm the public, as the safety of microplastics in humans remains unclear. Both synthetic and natural gums were found to release similar amounts of microplastics, revealing a gap in prior research on this topic.
Our goal is not to alarm anybody. Scientists don't know if microplastics are unsafe to us or not. But we know we are exposed to plastics in everyday life.
Surprisingly, both synthetic and natural gums had similar amounts of microplastics released when we chewed them.
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