Once upon a time, the inks are made of vegetable oils. But since 1960s, the petroleum-based inks have began to take the place of old inks. The petroleum resin helps to reduce the price of inks and make the inks dry faster. But the petroleum-based inks contain some toxic substances, although they won't harm your health badly unless you drink them, you should avoid to let the children approach the inks.

Due to its quick-drying ability, the new inks are widely used in the newspaper industry. Mineral oil made of petroleum is used as a type of solvent to dissolve the pigments into colored inks. Compared with the vegetable oil, it is much cheaper and it can help to improve the stability and workability of the inks.

The high quality and low price make the petroleum-based inks keep popular for a long time. But since the inks contain volatile organic compounds, and they may be harmful to human health and the environment, so people begin to search for its alternatives. But for many industries, the petroleum resin is still an essential material.

Nowadays, the raising price of crude oil promote the price of the petroleum resin. And more and more people realized that they should save energy for the last generation, so many newspaper companies use the soy oil inks instead of the petroleum-based ones. But of course, the petroleum resin is still an essential material in playgrounds and pavements construction.