"In the 1850s, paraffin wax became the new popular base for chewing gum, but both paraffin and spruce vanished when chicle gum was brought in a decade later.

Agency for International Development has put out bids for a $5 million package to create "extractive reserves" in the Peten for the sustainable exploitation of rain-forest products such as chicle gum and the ornamental Chamaedorea palm or xate.