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LONDON, UK: In a personal manifesto, British chef, broadcaster and food campaigner Jamie Oliver has called for a ban on chewing gum in public in order to make Britain a cleaner place to live. Oliver’s appeal refers to the huge amounts of gum residue littering British streets—according to The Independent, there are an estimated 250,000 pieces of old chewing gum caking London’s Oxford Street alone.
Oliver wrote his manifesto for The Independent’s series “If I were Prime Minister”, which is being run prior to the general election in Britain on 7 May. For 100 days, the British newspaper is offering 100 non-politicians the opportunity to write about what Britain would look like if they were Prime Minister. Other prominent contributors include adventurer and TV presenter Bear Grylls and model and author Katie Price.
Oliver’s manifesto focused on how to make the UK a “healthier, happier, cleaner place to live” through measures such as encouraging the British to eat at least five fruit and vegetables a day, introducing age restrictions on energy drinks and finding ways to encourage young mothers to breastfeed.
Moreover, the chef and entrepreneur emphasised that he would restrict the chewing of gum in public. “I’d ban chewing gum until they can invent one that doesn’t make every street in Britain look like a bomb site,” Oliver wrote. According to The Independent, about 28 million Britons chew gum, spending £400 million (circa €556 million) a year on it. The costs for the annual clean-up of the UK’s streets have been estimated at £150 million (circa €208 million).
Oliver is not the first to suggest a ban on chewing gum in order to keep streets and public places clean. Similar measures were taken in Singapore in 1992, when a ban on chewing gum—still active today—was introduced. The ban was mainly a response to vandalism of the country’s then new S$5 billion (circa €3 billion) rapid transit railway system. Chewing gum was constantly left on seats, support straps and even automatic door sensors, preventing the trains’ doors from opening and closing.
As a consequence, the Singaporean police began imposing a fine of S$500 (circa €344) on anyone who polluted public areas by spitting out gum and leaving it behind as litter. Moreover, the import of all kinds of chewing gum was ceased immediately. In 2004, international pressure from the US brought about a change in the Singaporean law, which reinstated the legal use of small amounts of therapeutic dental chewing gum. Nevertheless, use remains heavily regulated and chewing gum can only be purchased directly from a dentist or pharmacist.
