What is envelope glue made of

Ok, I like the show "Seinfeld. So the other night I'm watching a rerun gotta love syndication , and it's the episode where George buys his wedding invitations. George, being George, buys the cheapest invitations possible. Turns out the glue in cheap invitations is toxic. It's funny -- reading the above, it almost sounds like a tragedy, but in the "Seinfeld" universe, it works perfectly.

And hey, George didn't want to get married anyway who could forget the "restrained jubilation" the doctor claimed he displayed upon learning of Susan's death? Anyway, the point of this post isn't to talk about Seinfeld, but the envelope glue. Is the glue harmful? What's in it? What if you cut your tongue and glue gets in it? Will you die, like Susan of "Seinfeld" did?

And what about that e-mail rumor that cockroach eggs were in envelope glue? To start, let's discover what's in envelope glue. In general terms, most envelope glue is produced from gum arabic, which comes from tree sap. The glue can also be more petroleum-based, as we can see by this answer from someone in the UK post office. George Costanza is engaged to be married, but a month away, he gets cold feet. One of these tactics is to buy the cheapest wedding invitations possible.

He finds her in the apartment, keeled over, and can barely restrain his joy. If only they had used peel and seal, George would be good and miserable to this day. In his words to a hopeful date Marisa Tomei at the end of the episode:. Oh, the absurdities of self-absorption and post-modern life! Try peel and seal envelopes. Your wedding invitations, save the dates, memos, invoices, and holiday cards are ready to go.

But there are much more likely, and less Seinfeld -y, reasons for preferring peel and seal envelopes:. The same publication points out, however, that "the fewer the virus particles on a surface, the lower the chances that someone touching it will become infected. And while mail doesn't appear to be a major source of transmission via UCI , that doesn't mean anyone wants to get that close and personal with your saliva, which has long been a source of viral transmission and spread in many common colds and flus.

Furthermore, mono is called the "kissing disease" for a reason. Gum adhesives are specifically formulated to meet requirements of envelope converters, like Tension, and end users. Blinded by science already?

Have no fear. Highly-specialized quality teams, including chemists from gum suppliers, are involved throughout the production process. Definitely not the case. Applying more or less gum to the envelope seal, seams or window patch is not a good thing.