What if a child swallows a rubber nugget?
In 1994 the Maryland Environmental Services (MES) put this question to a series of tests. At the MES request, a testing laboratory subjected ¾-inch pieces of tire chips to hydrochloric acid (stomach acid). “Visual examination of insoluble residue appeared to indicate only fibrous reinforcing strands were dissolved by the hydrochloric acid. The tire rubber did not appear to be affected in any way; i.e., chalking, cracking, fracturing, etc.” (PSI Report No.