You can read the full briefing here
At Nuud, we’ve been banging the drum for a while now: most chewing gum isn’t gum at all – it’s plastic. But today, we’re dialling things up a notch - Alongside leading scientists, NGOs and environmental campaigners, we’ve co-authored and released a Policy Briefing Document (PBD), making a clear and urgent case to the UK Government: it’s time to ban plastic chewing gum.
The evidence speaks for itself. Groundbreaking research from Queen’s University Belfast has revealed that chewing a single piece of regular gum releases more than 250,000 microplastics directly into your mouth. That’s plastic entering your body with every chew - invisible, unlabelled, and entirely unregulated. These particles don’t just pass through. They’ve now been detected in human blood, lungs, placentas - and most recently, the brain.
It’s not just gross - it’s dangerous. Microplastic exposure has been linked to cancer, infertility, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even neurological damage. And yet, the vast majority of gum chewers - over 90% - don’t even realise they’re chewing plastic. That’s because brands are allowed to hide synthetic ingredients like polyethylene, polyvinyl acetate and styrene-butadiene rubber behind the vague term “gum base.” Imagine if we labelled cigarettes as “herbal tubes.” It's nonsense like we've never seen before.
The environmental damage isn’t any prettier. UK councils spend over £60 million a year removing gum from pavements. It doesn’t biodegrade - it just breaks down into microplastics that pollute soil and waterways, harming wildlife and entering the food chain. Meanwhile, the chewing gum industry continues to rely on fossil fuel-derived ingredients with no tax, no warnings and no accountability.
Our Policy Briefing Document outlines exactly how that can change. We’re calling on the Government to introduce mandatory labelling of plastic ingredients in gum, health warnings on packs, point-of-sale restrictions to protect young people, and a plastic health tax to fund public health and environmental clean-up. The final step? A full legislative ban on plastic chewing gum - just like we’ve seen for other unnecessary single-use plastics.
This isn’t a fringe issue. It’s a public health and environmental scandal hiding in plain sight. And we’re not the only ones saying so. The PBD is backed by scientists like Dr Cuong Cao and Dr Charlotte Davies, organisations like Just One Ocean, Common Seas, the Plastic Health Council, and youth activists at Kids Against Plastic. Together, we’re calling on MPs to take this seriously - and act.
You can read the full briefing here, share it with your MP, and help us spread the word. Because when you know what’s in your gum – you can’t un-chew it. And once you know the damage it’s doing, doing nothing is no longer an option.
Help us put a full stop in chewy plastic pollution.
If you're an MP, please email keir@nuudgum.com to register your support.
If you're a concerned chewer, please share this article with your local MP asking them to support a call for a ban on chewy plastic.
