The New Jersey legislature is here to help.

They want to save their constituents from chewing gum: specifically, the microplastics that might be in chewing gum.

NJ.com reports,

The Protecting Against Microplastics Act, introduced last month by Democratic state Assemblywomen Shama Haider and Margi Donlon, proposes labeling products such as chewing gum and tea bags as including 'intentionally added microplastics' for two years, before outright banning their sale in the state.
Foodware — like plastic plates, forks, knives, and containers — cleaning products and cosmetics are also included in the bill that proposes earmarking $3 million for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to enforce it.

And if anyone gets caught selling chewing gum on the black market, the fines will be massive:

Fines outlined in the proposed bill fall between $1,000 and $25,000 for each offense. Each day that products violating the law remain for sale in New Jersey would constitute a new violation.

They're basing the law on a 2024 study that tested multiple gums, both all-natural and synthetic, they all contained microplastics, and they all released those microplastics relatively quickly while chewing.

'We are really not sure where it's coming from,' said Sanjay Mohanty, a UCLA environmental engineering professor and co-author of the study. 'Is this from packing or is this from something else? We can't tell where the microplastics are coming from because companies don't say what they're adding. There is no way for us to know what the ingredients are [in each recipe].'

The funny thing is, we probably do know where the microplastics came from now: the gloves the scientists were wearing while doing their testing.

Think that inconvenient fact will stop New Jersey politicians from banning chewing gum in their state?