1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,400 Speaker 1: I've got some bad news first about chewing gum. Now, 2 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 1: a lot of brands of gum may in fact be 3 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: full of microplastics. Most commercial gum has a base ingredient 4 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 1: that sometimes contains plastic polleners. One Aussie researcher said he 5 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: wouldn't even let his kids chew it. That researcher is 6 00:00:13,280 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: Brian Oliver from the University of Technology in Sydney and 7 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:16,119 Speaker 1: is with us. 8 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 2: Hi, Brian, Hi, how are you? 9 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: I'm very well, thank you? How bad is it? I mean, 10 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: like I can tolerate a little bit of microplastic, but 11 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:23,119 Speaker 1: is it just chocker full of it? 12 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 2: Look, there's lots of microparticles of microplastic in it which 13 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 2: are in the farm of little particles. But the truth 14 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:33,600 Speaker 2: of the matter is we don't actually know how about 15 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 2: it is, So I guess it's it's one of those 16 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,880 Speaker 2: great unknowns as to what's what the risk would be 17 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:39,720 Speaker 2: in the long term. 18 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: Is there are there any gum gum brands that are 19 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:43,240 Speaker 1: worse than others. 20 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 2: From the research that's been done, there seems to be 21 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 2: a spectrum, And there's a bit of debate us or 22 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 2: whether natural gum and agent who are artificial gum and 23 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 2: agents are worse for you, but I think a lot 24 00:00:57,240 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 2: of it then comes down to actually how much you 25 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: chew it and then what happens when you chew, So 26 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 2: if you chew the gum and then you have salive 27 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 2: when you swallow salive. But that's where the mitor particles 28 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 2: are being introduced. So probably to the individual, it's quite 29 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 2: variable as well. 30 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: If we don't know how bad it is, what are 31 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:15,600 Speaker 1: we worried about? 32 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,760 Speaker 2: I guess for me it's the un known. So what 33 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 2: we know is that if we give micropractical or microplastics 34 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 2: to animals or we give them to cell culture models, 35 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 2: it always induces inflammation, and inflammation sort of the precursor 36 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 2: to a lot of chronic conditions, so diabetes, respiratory conditions. 37 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 2: So we know that the impetus is there. What we 38 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: don't know is actually how much inflammation and exactly how bad. 39 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 2: So I'm pretty certain it's bad. I just don't know 40 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 2: how bad. 41 00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:48,280 Speaker 1: I love that. Thank you, Ryan, I appreciated Ran Oliver, 42 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: professor at the University of Technology in Sydney. For more 43 00:01:51,840 --> 00:01:55,160 Speaker 1: from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to news talks. 44 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast 45 00:01:58,480 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio