Spain Bans Gum That's Too Sticky

Lawmakers decide old gum is too expensive to clean off streets
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 29, 2010 3:41 PM CST
Spain Bans Gum That's Too Sticky
Spain's gum will soon be less sticky.   (?little sourire)

Spanish lawmakers have come up with an ingenious way to save local governments money: Make chewing gum less sticky. Local councils have apparently been complaining that gummed-up sidewalks cost too much to scrub, so the Spanish cabinet has ruled that all gum in the country must now use a less-sticky copolymer of vinyl acetate and vinyl laurate as a base, the Guardian reports.

“It sticks less, which makes cleaning easier,” the Spanish health ministry explains. There’s just one little problem: Critics say that vinyl acetate isn’t actually safe. “Laboratory animal studies have found long-term exposure to vinyl acetate can cause a carcinogenic response,” the US-based Vinyl Acetate Council conceded, though it said this only occurred at “concentrations well above recommended exposure levels.” (More Spain stories.)

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