The Hindu : International : Gum crime

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005

International

International

Gum crime

LONDON: The Mayan tribes of South America would chew chicle, a natural form of rubber. Ancient Greeks used the resin of a mastic shrub, and early American settlers gnawed on a mixture of spruce sap and beeswax. In modern Britain, people like to chew sticks and tablets of manufactured gum — and they also like to spit the tasteless residue on the ground. After almost 150 years of this custom, authorities are preparing to target companies who make chewing gum as well as their customers to try to stop the spread of polka dots on the pavements. Measures contained in two pieces of a coming legislation, the cleaner neighbourhoods and environment bill and the London local authorities bill, will classify chewing gum as litter, so increasing the obligation on and power of local authorities to act against those responsible. But, amid scepticism about the Government's favoured tactic of on-the-spot fines, they also plan to turn the spotlight on the leading gum manufacturer, Wrigley, on the basis that the polluter should pay. On February 22, Westminster councilwill host the first capital cities ``gum summit.'' —

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