Flowers, Diamonds, and Gold: The destructive public health, human rights and environmental consequences of symbols of love

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Flowers, Diamonds, and Gold The destructive
public health, human rights and environmental
consequences of symbols of love

• Martin Donohoe

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Overview

• Flowers
• Diamonds
• Gold
• Alternatives/Solutions

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Say it with flowers
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Flowers

• Long history of religious, folk, heraldic and
  national symbolism
• Gifts of love, friendship and filial devotion
• St. Valentines Day
• Mothers Day

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The Floriculture Industry

• 30 billion cut flower industry
• Major producers Holland, Columbia, Kenya,
  Zimbabwe, Ecuador, India, Mexico, China, Malaysia
• Worlds largest producer Dole Fresh Flowers

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The Floriculture Industry

• Largest import markets U.S. and Germany
• Only 1/3 of cut flowers sold in U.S. are domestic
• Most from CA

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The Floriculture Industry

• 190,000 workers in developing countries
• Ecuador and Columbia account for ½ of flowers
  sold in U.S.
• Most profit flows to large, multinational
  corporations, headquartered outside producing
  countries
• Small amount reinvested locally

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Floriculture and Women

• Predominantly female workforce
• Low wages
• No benefits
• Short contract cycles
• Child labor, dismissal for pregnancy, unpaid
  overtime common

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Floriculture and Labor

• Labor organizers harassed, workers fired for
  trying to organize unions
• Third party contractors shuffle workers from
  plantation to plantation, avoiding payment of
  social security and inhibiting union organizing

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Floriculture and the Environment

• Floriculture displaces crops grown for local food
  consumption
• Contributes to malnutrition and increased local
  food costs
• Requires large quantities of irrigation water
• 120 liters/dozen roses
• Contributes to drop in water tables

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Floriculture Toxic Exposures

• Flowers most pesticide-intensive crop
• Greenhouses increase ambient levels of pesticides
• 1/5 of pesticides banned or untested in U.S.
• Carcinogens, persistent organic
  pollutants/endocrine disruptors

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Floriculture Toxic Exposures

• Flowers carry up to 50X the amount of pesticides
  allowed on foods
• USDA inspects for pests, but not pesticides

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Floriculture Health Effects

• Over 50 of workers have symptoms of
  organophosphate pesticide exposure (cholinergic
  symptoms)
• Other common health problems
• Allergic reactions, heat stroke, pneumonitis,
  RSI, cellulitis, UTIs, neuropathies, mental
  health problems, cancers, reproductive problems
  (low sperm counts, spontaneous abortions, fetal
  anomalies, etc.)

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Floriculture Health Effects

• Labeling, handling, and storage problems rampant
• Protective gear often lacking, not working
• Reuse of pesticide-saturated greenhouse plastic
  for domestic purposes not uncommon
• Workers wash / bathe children in same sink

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Floriculture Health Effects

• Local physicians poorly-trained, lack resources
  to manage pesticide-related health problems
• Many providers employed by floriculture company
• Conflict of interest

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Diamonds

• Symbols of wealth, power, love, and magical
  powers
• Created from carbon early in the earths history
  under extreme temperature and pressure
• Industrial uses cutting, chemically inert,
  transmits many wavelengths of light, can be
  tweaked to hold an electric charge
• Discovered in India around 800 B.C.
• Commercial mining began in 1866 in South Africa

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World Diamond Mine Production(1995-2011)
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Diamond Production

• Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York and Mumbai (Bombay)
  major trading centers
• Most cutting done in Surat (India), Tel Aviv,
  Antwerp, Mumbai, New York and Thailand
• Major retail markets U.S. and Japan

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The Diamond Market

• Annual retail sales 71 billion (2011)
• 2008 Christies sells 36-carat diamond for 24
  million
• Worlds Largest Diamond 40-carat Hope Diamond at
  Smithsonian
• Fun fact some exoplanets contain diamond layers
  thousands of miles thick

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Kimberley Mine, SAYielded 3 tons of diamonds,
Closed 1914
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Mirny Diamond Mine, SiberiaLargest open diamond
mine in the world
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The Diamond Engagement Ring

• Diamond engagement ring introduced in 1477
  (Archduke Ferdinand ? Mary of Burgundy)
• De Beers Mining Company
• Founded by Cecil Rhodes in 1888
• Responsible for 40-45 of worldwide diamond
  production and sales

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Cecil Rhodes(Rhodesia, Rhodes Scholarship,
DeBeers Mining Company)

• We must find new lands from which we can easily
  obtain raw materials and at the same time exploit
  the cheap slave labour that is available from the
  natives of the colonies. The colonies would also
  provide a dumping ground for the surplus goods
  produced in our factories.

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Diamond Rings

• 1939 DeBeers hires N.W. Ayer and Company to make
  diamonds a psychological necessitythe larger
  the diamond, the greater the expression of love.
• By 1942, 80 of engagements in U.S. consecrated
  with diamond rings (still true today)
• Diamonds first worn by stars to the Oscars in 1942

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Diamond Rings

• 1947 A diamond is forever slogan born
• Jewelers instructed to tell (pressure?) men - who
  buy 90 of all diamonds to spend at least 2
  months salary on the ring
• Later Anniversary diamonds

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Diamond Rings

• 1999 Advertising Age magazine declares A
  Diamond is Forever slogan the most effective of
  the 20th Century
• Recognized by 90 of Americans
• 1999 De Beers chairman Nicky Oppenheimer
  Diamonds are intrinsically worthless, except for
  the deep psychological need they fill

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Diamond Rings

• 2003 De Beers begins to market diamonds to
  single women
• Your left hand says we, your right hand says
  me.

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Pet JewelryThe Diamond Dog Collar
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Diamonds Profits and Losses

• 144 million carats rough diamonds mined for
  jewelry per year
• Worth approximately U.S.15 billion
• 1 carat diamond retails for 4,000-7,500 in the
  U.S.
• Cost less than 2 billion to extract
• Ultimately sell for over 50 billion

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Diamonds Profits and Losses

• Workers desperately poor but hoping to strike it
  rich in casino economy
• 1 million in Africa
• Work under dangerous, unhealthy conditions for
  pittance
• Diamonds may be embedded in asbestos
• Workers suffer from cancer, leukemia, silicosis

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Diamonds Profits and Losses

• Middlemen, diamond dealers and exporters earn the
  lions share of profits
• Most foreign nationals
• Very little profit re-invested in local
  communities

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Diamonds Profits and Losses

• 2008 DeBeers settles several class action
  lawsuits over anti-trust violations, unfair
  competition, and consumer-protection laws related
  to monopolizing supplies, conspiring to
  fix/raise/control prices, and disseminating false
  and misleading advertising
• Over 300 million plus prohibitions/oversight
• DeBeers admits no wrongdoing

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Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism

• Mine owners violate indigenous peoples rights
  via destruction of traditional homelands and
  forced resettlement
• Mining hastens environmental degradation of
  ecosystems already under severe stress

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Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism

• Diamonds have been used by rebel armies in the
  Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola,
  Liberia, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone to pay for
  weapons used to fight brutal civil wars
• 3.8 million deaths
• Child soldiers
• Forced labor
• Sex slavery, HIV
• Terrorize local populations (e.g., RUF in Sierra
  Leone killed and mutilated thousands via
  amputations with machetes and axes in 1990s)

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Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism

• Al Qaeda and Hizbollah have used diamond monies
  to
• Fund terror cells
• Hide money targeted by financial institutions
• Launder profits from criminal activity
• Convert cash into a commodity that is easily
  transportable and holds its value

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Diamonds Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and
Terrorism

• Smuggled and illicit conflict diamonds may amount
  to as much as 10-15 of diamond jewelry sold
  worldwide
• U.S. State Dept.
• 20
• Global Witness

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Gold

• Dominant role throughout history in the growth of
  empires and the evolution of the worlds
  financial institutions

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Uses of Gold

• 80-90 of gold mined today turned into jewelry
• 10-20 used by industry
• Special properties malleable, ductile, good
  thermal conductivity, durable, and resistance to
  corrosion
• Used by Catherine de Medici as poison and by
  physicians to treat rheumatoid arthritis

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History of Gold

• 4000 B.C. gold first fashioned into decorative
  objects
• By 1500 B.C. the standard medium of exchange for
  international trade
• Mid-1800s Gold Rushes in California and South
  Africa

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Gold Production

• Top producers China, Australia, United States,
  Russia, South Africa, Peru
• 2500 tons mined each year
• Valued at 21 billion
• Typical piece of gold jewelry sells for at least
  4 times the value of the gold itself

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The Wedding Ring

• Formulated from a variety of minerals throughout
  history
• As with diamonds, aggressive marketing has played
  a significant role in popularizing the gold
  wedding band

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How Gold is Used(In Tons)

• 2400 jewelry
• 461 industrial and dental
• 445 retail investment
• 253 exchange-traded funds

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Gold MiningThe Myth
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Gold MiningThe Reality
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Gold Mining

• Artisanal (15 million people, including 3 million
  women and children)
• Corporate (few major corporations)

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MiningThe Worlds Deadliest Industry

• Tens of thousands killed mining gold and other
  minerals over the last century
• 40 killed per day presently

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MiningThe Worlds Deadliest Industry

• 500,000 abandoned mines in U.S. alone
• Estimated cleanup cost 32-72 billion
• Union-busting / human rights abuses help maintain
  cheap labor force

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MiningThe Worlds Deadliest Industry

• Local communities suffer environmental damage,
  pollution, dislocations
• STDs rampant, spread by miners to wives and
  children
• FGC

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The Resource Curse

• Dependence upon gold mining slows/reverses
  economic growth, increases poverty, and
  encourages governmental corruption

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The Resource Curse

• ½ of gold produced worldwide between 1995 and
  2015 has or will come from indigenous peoples
  lands
• Rural and indigenous peoples evicted without
  prior consultation, meaningful compensation, or
  the offer of equivalent lands elsewhere

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The Resource Curse

• Benefits go to corrupt central governments and
  overseas corporations
• Little returned to local communities
• Casino economy

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Environmental Destruction

• ¾ of active gold mining and exploration sites
  overlap with regions of high conservation value,
  such as National Parks and World Heritage Sites

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U.S. Gold Mining

• Mining Law of 1872
• Archaic law
• Mine purchase price between 2.50 and 5.00 per
  acre
• No royalties paid for gold mined on public lands

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U.S. Gold Mining

• Generous government subsidies
• Cheap fuel
• Road building and other infrastructure
• Reclamation and cleanup

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U.S. Gold Mining

• Local communities stuck with multi-million to
  multi-billion dollar environmental cleanup costs
  when mines declare bankruptcy or move on
• Native Americans rights violated

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Gold MiningGold Cyanide Mercury

• At least 18 tons of mine waste created to obtain
  the gold for a single 3 oz., 18k ring
• Gold leached from ore using cyanide
• Cyanide paralyzes cellular respiration

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Gold MiningGold Cyanide Mercury

• Mercury used to capture gold particles as an
  amalgam
• Mercury converted to methylmercury in environment
• Significant neurotoxin
• Minamata Disease
• China, Brazil (Amazon)
• 30 of global mercury pollution due to gold
  mining (major source coal-fired power plants)

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Minamata DiseaseW Eugene Smith
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Gold MiningGold Cyanide Mercury

• 4000 tons used to purify gold during 19th-Century
  Northern California Gold Rush
• Fish in Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay
  still show elevated levels

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Gold MiningEnvironmental Damage

• Contaminated groundwater often sits in large
  toxic lakes held in place by tenuous dams
• Release of cyanide and mercury into local
  waterways kills fish, harms fish-eating animals,
  and poisons drinking water

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Gold MiningEnvironmental Damage

• Omai gold mine in Guyana (one of the largest
  open-pit mines in the world)
• Tailings dam failed in 1995
• 3 billion cubic liters of cyanide-laden tailings
  renders downstream 32 miles of Omai River, home
  to 23,000 people, an environmental disaster zone

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Gold MiningEnvironmental Damage

• Baia Mare gold mine in Romania
• Tailings dam broke in 2000
• 100,000 metric tons of toxic wastwater spilled
• Fish killed, other animals harmed, drinking water
  of 2.5 million people in Danube River watershed
• Coastal dumping of gold mine waste elsewhere
  damages estuaries and coral reefs

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Gold, Mercury and Malaria

• Mercury pollution contributes to the spread of
  malaria
• Mercury may lower immunity to malaria
• Still pools of water serve as mosquito breeding
  grounds
• Migrant miners import new strains, infecting
  indigenous peoples
• E.g., Thousands of Yanomami Indians killed in
  Brazil in late 1960s / early 1970s

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Gold Other Health and Environmental Harms

• Gold smelting uses large amounts of energy and
  releases SO2, nitrogen dioxide, and other
  components of acid rain
• Contributes to asthma, skin ailments

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Gold Other Health and Environmental Harms

• Release of lead into soil and air causes lead
  poisoning
• Epidemic of lead poisoning in Nigeria
• Silica exposure causes silicosis
• Increases risk of TB

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Gold Other Health and Environmental Harms

• 40 of Western U.S. watersheds affected by gold
  mining pollution
• More than 25 mines (some still active) on
  Superfund list
• Mine pollution ruins farmlands and strains local
  food resources

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Gold Other Health and Environmental Harms

• Water tables decline due to pumping of enormous
  quantity of water to release gold from ore
• Toxic pollution from gold mines affects 100
  million people worldwide
• Living near a gold mine costs 12.7 DALY loss
  (i.e., productive lifespan cut by 12.7 yrs)

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Gold Mining Harms Women

• By displacing agriculture (where women play a
  major role), removes women from labor force
• Concentrates economic power in hands of men
• Diminishes womens financial resources and
  educational, political, and legal opportunities

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Gold Mining Harms Women

• Mining employs a few women in low-level, clerical
  positions, where they face severe discrimination,
  sexual harassment, and firing for pregnancy
• Women have to walk further to collect water
• Dowry-associated violence, esp. in India
• Utilization of child labor

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Gold Mining Human Rights Abuses

• Grassberg mine (worlds largest, owned by
  U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan)
• On land seized from Amunge and Komoro peoples
• Dumps tons of cyanide-laced waste into local
  rivers each day
• Operators implicated in forced evictions,
  murders, rape, torture, extra-judicial killings,
  and arbitrary detentions
• Abetted by Indonesian military, which it has paid
  millions of dollars

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Gold Mining Terrorism

• Echo Bay Mines Limited purportedly paid off Abu
  Sayef (affiliated with Al Qaeda) in exchange for
  protection of its Philippines-based gold mine

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Gold Markets vs. Morals

• U.S. government has 8,134 tons of gold secured in
  vaults (worth approximately 122 billion)
• Federal Reserve and other major central banks
  have agreed to severely restrict sales from their
  reserves, offering, in effect, a price support to
  gold

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Gold Markets vs. Morals

• Currently 3 times more gold sits in bank vaults,
  in jewelry boxes, and with private investors than
  is identified in underground reserves
• Enough gold to meet current consumer demand for
  17 years
• Subsidies make it cheaper to extract new gold
  than to recycle existing gold

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Gold Markets vs. Morals

• Mining industry maintains strong ties with
  governments to maintain status quo
• 32 million spent on lobbying in 2011 (largest
  recipient Mitt Romney)

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Gold Markets vs. Morals

• Gold mining supported by World Bank and its
  profit-making arm, the International Finance
  Corporation
• Gold industry blocking International Monetary
  Fund- and World Bank-sponsored debt-forgiveness
  package
• Radio talk show hosts hawking gold from Goldline
  International, others

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Other Items With Similar Human Rights and
Environmental Health Issues

• Conflict minerals for cellphones, electronics,
  missile guidance systems, etc.
• Chocolate

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Flowers
• Grow your own
• Potted plant

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Flowers
• Purchase locally- or internationally-produced,
  organically-grown, labor-friendly bouquets
• Farmers markets, Whole Foods, other upscale
  markets
• http//www.LocalHarvest.org
• http//www.proflowers.com
• http//www.organicbouquet.com
• http//FlowerPetal.com (contributes to carbon
  offsets)
• 1-800-Flowers (some)
• Others

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Flowers
• Consumer education
• Pressure on supermarkets, florists
• Boycotts ? voluntary eco-labels in Europe
• NGOs developing industry standards
• Food First Information Action Networks Flower
  Campaign ? voluntary International Code of Conduct

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Alternatives and Solutions

• Flowers
• Veriflora Certification System
• Organic production with phaseout of pesticides
• Water conservation
• Safe waste management
• Mitigation of previous environmental damage
• Fair labor practices / fair wages / overtime pay
  / right to organize
• Unannounced audits ensure compliance

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Alternatives and Solutions

• Flowers
• Veriflora Certification System Campaign focused
  on
• Supermarkets (29 of U.S. flower sales, market
  share increasing, 50 major companies)
• Less focus currently on wholesalers (1200
  nationwide) and florists (30,000, 47 of market
  share)
• Society of American Florists yet to endorse
• Fair trade flowers

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Diamonds
• Consider alternatives to traditional engagement
  ring
• Cubic zirconium
• Synthetic/cultured diamonds over 75,000 lbs
  produced each year worldwide
• LifeGems (diamonds created from carbon captured
  during cremation of human and animal remains!)
• No ring

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Diamonds
• Purchase only verifiable conflict-free diamonds
• cut, color, clarity, and conflict
• Query jewelers, consumer education, boycotts,
  protests, shareholder activism
• Diamond industry prefers self-regulation

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Diamonds Kimberly Process Certification Scheme
• Requires rough controls to assure conflict-free
  diamonds
• Governments license miners
• Diamond traders utilize sealed, tamper-proof
  containers
• Integrated computer databases in importing and
  exporting countries catch discrepancies

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Diamonds Kimberly Process Certification Scheme
• Importing countries enact strict customs
  regulations, backed by thorough inspections and
  harsh penalties
• Supported by diamond industry and UN General
  Assembly
• Involved countries (77) slow and often
  ineffective in enacting Scheme

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• U.S. Clean Diamond Act of 2003
• Mandates participation in Kimberly Process
  Certification scheme
• Money from fines (up to 10,000 for civil and
  50,000 for criminal penalties) and seized
  contraband earmarked for victims of armed
  conflict
• Implementation slow
• USA Patriot Act includes anti-money laundering
  measures

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Amnesty International/Global Witness 2006-2007
  survey
• ½ of companies failed to respond
• Only 38 of companies responding able to provide
  a meaningful account of their policies
• Helzberg Diamond Shops, Sterling (Signet), and
  Tiffany and Co. have most comprehensive policies

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Safe Diamonds (?)
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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Gold
• No Dirty Gold Campaign
• Halt to production and sale of gold produced at
  expense of communities, workers, and the
  environment
• Mining companies not to operate in areas of armed
  conflict
• Companies representing 22 of US jewelry market
  (accounting for 14.5 billion in sales) pledged
• Take the pledge at http//www.nodirtygold.org
• System similar to Kimberly Process

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No Dirty Gold Campaign

• Companies pledged include
• Zale Corporation
• Signet Group (parent firm of Sterling and Kay
  jewelers)
• Tiffany and Company
• Helzberg Diamonds
• JC Penney

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No Dirty Gold Campaign

• Companies pledged include
• Cartier
• Piaget
• Van Cleef and Arpels
• Fred Meyer
• Wal-Mart
• Jostens

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No Dirty Gold Campaign

• Companies pledged include
• QVC
• Target
• Sears
• Pledging is just the first step

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Alternatives and Solutions

• International Labor Organizations Convention
  169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in
  Independent Countries
• Requires culturally-relevant consultation before
  appropriation of indigenous peoples lands and
  that indigenous peoples participate in benefits
  of mining
• Signed and ratified by 19 countries (but none of
  major gold mining countries)

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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Gold
• Consumer pressure, boycotts, shareholder
  resolutions
• Consider recycled/vintage gold, eco-friendly
  gold, alternatives to traditional wedding
  ring/class ring
• Develop biological and chemical treatments to
  decrease/destroy cyanide, mercury, and other
  mining contaminants, and alternatives to
  mercury-based smelting

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Minamata Convention

• International agreement among over 140 countries
  (including U.S.) to be signed October, 2013
• Places controls and restrictions on mercury use
• E.g., Medical equipment (thermometers),
  energy-saving light bulbs, mining, cement and
  coal-fired power plants
• Includes education and public health strategies
  to identify and treat victims of mercury toxicity

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Safe Gold
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Symbols of Love Alternatives and Solutions

• Consider alternative tokens of affection
• Homemade gifts (cards, photo collages, videos,
  poems, meals, home improvement projects)
• Donations to charities
• Eco-jewelry made from recycled materials by
  indigenous peoples
• Profits returned to local communities, providing
  wide-ranging social and economic benefit

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Conclusions

• Cut flowers, diamonds, and gold as symbols of
  love are cultural constructs perpetuated in part
  by the persuasive marketing efforts of
  multinational corporations
• Production involves significant damage to local
  communities and the environment and harms men,
  women and children

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Conclusions

• Production supports human rights abuses, armed
  conflict, and even terrorism
• Symbols of love should not be constant reminders
  of death and destruction
• Consider alternative symbols of love
• Work for social justice and change

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Paper/References

• Donohoe MT. Flowers, diamonds, and gold The
  destructive human rights and environmental
  consequences of symbols of love. Human Rights
  Quarterly 200830164-82. Available at
  http//phsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/symbols
  -of-love-hrq-pdf.pdf

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Contact Information

• martindonohoe_at_phsj.org
• http//www.publichealthandsocialjustice.org
• http//www.phsj.org