Quick Facts About Chewing Gum

• The ancient Greeks chewed ‘mastiche’, a gum made from the resin of the lentisk or mastic tree.
• The ancient Mayans chewed ‘chicle’ which is the sap from the sapodilla tree.
• The North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees and passed the habit along to the settlers.
• Early American settlers made a chewing gum from spruce sap and beeswax.
• The first commerical chewing gum was made and sold by John B. Curtis (1827-1897) in
  1848. The chewing gum was called the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.
• On December 28 1869, William Finley Semple became the first person to patent a chewing gum.
• In 1869, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna introduced Thomas Adams to ‘chicle’. In 1871, Thomas Adams patented a machine for the manufacture of gum.
• Clearing sticky gum littered on the streets and in public places is a costly and time-consuming effort. Singapore is one country who has banned the use of chewing gum with the exceptions of therapeutic gum sold in pharmacies, available only to those with prescriptions.

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