Sunday, July 29, 2007

Would one die from 'Chewing Gum'?

Early one morning, just after having a delicious local breakfast, my wife pulled out a pack of chewing Gum from her hand back and offered to share some with the rest of us.

I politely thanked her and declined her offer, but her brother who was sitting across her at the other end of the living room accepted gleefully.

She tossed the chewing Gum across the room, at her brother and it shacked him in the knee, her mother immediately screamed out, "What, are you trying to kill your brother?”

What? I thought to myself, is if possible for someone to actually die from Chewing Gum. We all remember being told white lies by our parents when we were little, of the dangers of swallowing chewing gum, but this was only so that we would spit them out rather that each them and get indigestion, wasn't it?

But lets see, we chew gum, some swallow it & others spit it out. We may shove loads off gum into our mouth to achieve that ever elusive perfect bubble gum, the over inflated bubble that POPS and covers our chin, nose and hair if we are not so lucky, which i am not.

My curiosity got the better of me so i searched the net and came up with the following;

Chewing Gum headlines: (there are many more but i have listed only two)
  • SHANGHAI, June 27 -- A LEXUS driver is believed to have choked to death on a wad of chewing gum that slipped into his trachea thanks to the big bump he ...
  • Adult sudden death caused by aspiration of chewing gum

The Histroy of 'The Chewing Gum' (as stated on the net)

Many years ago, archaeologists made a surprising discovery! It seems prehistoric men and women chewed on lumps of tree resin for pure enjoyment, making them the first-ever gum chewers in recorded history.

In the early 1880s, two brothers, Henry and Frank Fleer, began experimenting with chicle, the sticky substance found inside a sapodilla tree. Henry Fleer covered the tasteless chicle with a sugary white coating and named his invention "Chiclets." Meanwhile, brother Frank put together a recipe for the world's first bubble gum, originally called "Blibber Blubber Bubble Gum."

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I am off to the local store to get be some safe gum.......maybe i could make a bundle if i invent something ......naaaaaa... what's life without taking a little risk now and then...