- Singapore banned chewing gum since 1992
- This is to maintain the clean and green image the country is protraying
How is chewing gum invented?
The history of chewing gum can be dated as far back as the 1600s when European settlers picked up the habit of chewing spruce in the United States.
However, it is only in the late 1840s that John Curtis developed the first commercial spruce tree gum by boiling resin, then cutting it into strips that were coated in cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together. By the early 1850s, Curtis has constructed the world’s first chewing gum factory, in Portland, Maine.
The modern chewing gum was first developed in the 1860s when chicle was brought from Mexico by the former President, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to New York, where he gave it to Thomas Adams for use as a rubber substitute.
Creating A Greener Singapore
One of the popular questions among tourists to Singapore, “no chewing gum in Singapore ?” It might not be surprising to Singapore as the banned has been implemented more than two decades back.
What could have prompt the government to take such extreme measures? That was because of the increasing inconsiderate people eating chewing gum, spitting and sticking them almost everywhere. I
t has been such a big hassle to clean up chewing gums stains left on the streets floors, public transport seats and other areas. Cleaning costs for clearing the chewing gums are getting enormous and Singapore, trying to portray itself as a clean and green country, banned chewing gum which came into effect in 1992.
Under the law, no gum is allowed to be bought or sold inside Singapore and there is a $500 fine for spitting out gum on the streets.
The law prohibits the personal use of chewing gum and also any kind of way to bring the gum into Singapore. However, the government loosen the ban in 2004, where chewing gum of therapeutic value was allowed in Singapore under the United-States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.
If the public issues are causing the ban in Singapore, how about non-stick chewing gum? In an article which I saw last year, Revolymer has developed the world’s 1st non-stick chewing gum and would that helps to lift the ban in Singapore which was been affected for more than 2 decades from now?
