Democrat Controlled State May Soon BAN Chewing Gum

HIDDEN PLASTICS: The gum you chew could soon come with a warning label, or disappear from New Jersey shelves altogether under a proposed crackdown on microplastics.#News12 #NewJerseyhttps://t.co/0D5agYtbKN pic.twitter.com/wk6bDTvrlT

— News12NJ (@News12NJ) October 24, 2026

Click to expand...

New Jersey lawmakers might soon burst your bubble with a new bill that could ban the sale of chewing gum across the state.

The “Protecting Against Microplastics Act” targets the potential health risks of intentionally added microplastics in everyday products with a 3-year timeline to restrict and ultimately ban items like chewing gum, cosmetics, cleaning supplies, and foodware.

Here’s how the bill plans to phase out the targeted products:

Within the first year, manufacturers must disclose the presence of microplastics on exterior product labels.
By year two, labels must prominently feature the statement “This product contains microplastics” in both English and Spanish.

After three years, the bill institutes a complete ban on the sale of these products across the state.

The proposed legislation is an effort to crack down on the consumption of microplastics, as research indicates the majority of microplastics in chewing gum are absorbed within the first 10 minutes of chewing. Health experts note that microplastics are also commonly ingested from tea bags and plastic water bottles.

However, legal analysts anticipate immediate challenges from candy and gum manufacturers, who are expected to argue the legislation is overly broad and overly demanding.

Click to expand...

Really?

New Jersey has:

The highest property taxes in America

A $3 billion structural deficit

111,000 residents who left last year
Democrats’ solution: ban chewing gum.
Fines up to $25,000 a day for selling it.
We wish we were making this up.https://t.co/kwn0VIJZun

— NJ Assembly GOP (@NJAssemblyGOP) October 26, 2026

Click to expand...

Chewing gums typically contain plant-based or synthetic plastic polymers to improve their texture and flavor retention. These polymer fragments or microplastics can be released into the environment when disposed of improperly or ingested while chewing gums.

Yet, how many microplastics a person may ingest while chewing gums is unknown. Analyzing microplastics released into saliva from 5 natural and 5 synthetic chewing gums, we found that each gram of chewing gum could release up to 637 microplastics, and 94 % of microplastics were released within the first 8 min of chewing. Surprisingly, synthetic chewing gum released a similar (p > 0.8) number of microplastics as natural or plant-based chewing gums. Microplastics released from the chewing gums were predominantly small.

Both of the chewing gum types released four types of plastic polymers—polyolefins, polyterephthalates (PET), polyacrylamides, and polystyrenes,— among which polyolefins were the most abundant. The result reveals that chewing gum consumption, irrespective of the type of chewing gums, could result in direct ingestion of microplastics.

Click to expand...