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

2. “Say it with flowers”

3. The Floriculture Industry
$30 billion cut flower industry
Major producers: Holland, Columbia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, India, Mexico, China, Malaysia
Only 1/3 of cut flowers sold in U.S. are domestic - most from CA
World’s largest producer: Dole Fresh Flowers

4. 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

5. Floriculture and Women
Predominantly female workforce
Low wages
No benefits
Short contract cycles
Child labor, dismissal for pregnancy, unpaid overtime common

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Floriculture: Toxic Exposures
Flowers carry up to 50X the amount of pesticides allowed on foods
USDA inspects for pests, but not pesticides

13. Floriculture: Health Effects
Over 50% of workers have symptoms of organophosphate pesticide exposure
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.)

14. 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

15. Floriculture: Health Effects
Local physicians poorly-trained, lack resources to manage pesticide-related health problems
Many providers employed by floriculture company
Conflict of interest

17. Diamonds Symbols of wealth, power, love, and magical powers
Created from carbon early in the earth’s history under extreme temperature and pressure
Discovered in India around 800 B.C.
Commercial mining began in 1866 in South Africa

18. World Diamond Mine Production (1995-2011)

19. Diamond Production
Antwerp, Tel Aviv, New York, Mumbai (Bombay), and Dubai major trading centers
Most cutting done in Surat (India), Tel Aviv, Antwerp, Mumbai, New York and Thailand
Major retail markets U.S. and Japan
Annual retail sales = $72 billion (2012)

20. Kimberley Mine, SA Yielded 3 tons of diamonds, Closed 1914

21. Mirny Diamond Mine, Siberia Largest open diamond mine in the world

22. 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

23. 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.”

24. Diamond Rings
1939: DeBeers hires N.W. Ayer and Company to make diamonds “a psychological necessity…the larger the diamond, the greater the expression of love.”
By 1942, 80% of engagements in U.S. consecrated with diamond rings (still true today)

25. 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

26. 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”

27. 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 $80 billion

28. Diamonds: Profits and Losses
Workers desperately poor but hoping to strike it rich in “casino economy”
Over 1 million in Africa
Work under dangerous, unhealthy conditions for pittance
Diamonds may be embedded in asbestos
Workers suffer from cancer, leukemia, silicosis

29. Diamonds: Profits and Losses
Middlemen, diamond dealers and exporters earn the lion’s share of profits
Most foreign nationals
Very little profit re-invested in local communities

30. 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
Diamond mines expected to run dry by 2030, sea bed off Africa expected to become major source

31. 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

33. 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

34. Diamonds: Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and Terrorism
Armed groups raise $4-5 billion/yr through taxation of and illicit trade in diamonds
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

35. Diamonds: Human Rights Abuses, Conflict and Terrorism
Accusations that television evangelist Pat Robertson’s charity, Operation Blessing, served as an elaborate front for his for-profit African Development Company Ltd., a diamond mining operation licensed by Zairean President Mobutu, who had been sanctioned by the UN over alleged human rights violations

36. Trump Administration
Leaked draft of presidential memo shows Trump may ask the SEC to temporarily waive the requirements of the Conflict Mineral Rule, a provision of the Dodd Frank Act which discourages American companies from funding conflict and human rights abuses in the DCR through purchasing conflict minerals
Many tech companies favor waiving the rule

39. Gold
Dominant role throughout history in the growth of empires and the evolution of the world’s financial institutions

40. Uses of Gold 40% of gold mined today turned into jewelry
40% used in financial sector (coins, ingots for banks, other uses)
10% used by industry
Special properties: malleable, ductile, good thermal conductivity, durable, and resistance to corrosion

41. History of Gold
4000 B.C.: gold first fashioned into decorative objects
By 1500 B.C.: the standard medium of exchange for international trade
Used by Catherine de Medici as poison and by physicians to treat rheumatoid arthritis
Mid-1800s: Gold Rushes in California and South Africa

42. Gold Production
Top producers: China, Australia, United States, Russia, South Africa, Peru
3,000 tons mined each year
Valued at over $20 billion
Typical piece of gold jewelry sells for at least 4 times the value of the gold itself

43. 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

45. 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

46. Gold Mining: The Myth

47. Gold Mining: The Reality

53. Gold Mining
Artisanal (15 million people, including 3 million women and children)
Produce up to 15% of world’s gold
Corporate (few major corporations)

54. Mining: The World’s Deadliest Industry
Tens of thousands killed mining gold and other minerals over the last century
40 killed per day presently
Activists (labeled eco-terrorists) at risk from militias, paramilitary contractors

55. Mining: The World’s Deadliest Industry
Local communities suffer environmental damage, pollution, earthquakes, dislocations
STDs rampant, spread by miners to wives and children

56. The Resource Curse
Dependence upon gold mining slows/reverses economic growth, increases poverty, and encourages governmental corruption

57. 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

58. The Resource Curse
Benefits go to corrupt central governments and overseas corporations
Unregulated mines often controlled by organized criminal gangs or armed terrorist organizations
Little returned to local communities
Casino economy

59. 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

60. Gold Mining Gold = 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

61. Gold Mining Gold = Cyanide + Mercury
Mercury used to capture gold particles as an amalgam
Mercury converted to methylmercury in environment
Significant neurotoxin
Minamata Disease
37% of global mercury pollution due to gold mining (major source = coal-fired power plants)

62. Minamata Disease W Eugene Smith

63. Gold Mining: Environmental Damage
Contaminated groundwater often sits in large toxic lakes held in place by tenuous dams
1-4 tailing dam breaches/yr (10X failure rate of water dams)
Release of cyanide and mercury into local waterways kills fish, harms fish-eating animals, and poisons drinking water

64. Gold Mining: Environmental 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”

65. Gold Mining: Environmental 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
Animus River spill, SW USA (2015)
Coastal dumping of gold mine waste elsewhere damages estuaries and coral reefs

66. Gold: Other Health and Environmental Harms
Mercury pollution contributes to the spread of malaria
Gold smelting uses large amounts of energy and releases SO2, nitrogen dioxide, and other components of acid rain

67. Gold: Other Health and Environmental Harms
High levels of neurotoxic mercury found in artisanal miners
Release of lead into soil and air causes lead poisoning
Epidemic of lead poisoning in Nigeria
Silica exposure causes silicosis
Increases risk of TB

68. 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)

69. 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 women’s financial resources and educational, political, and legal opportunities

70. 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

71. Gold Mining: Human Rights Abuses
Grassberg mine, Indonesia (world’s 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

72. 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

73. 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

74. 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

75. 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)

76. 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

77. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Flowers:
Grow your own
Potted plant
Purchase locally- or internationally-produced, organically-grown, labor-friendly bouquets

78. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Flowers:
Consumer education
Pressure on retailers
Boycotts
Food First Information Action Network’s Voluntary International Code of Conduct

79. 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

80. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Diamonds:
Consider alternatives to traditional engagement ring
Cubic zirconium
Synthetic/cultured diamonds
LifeGems (diamonds created from carbon captured during cremation of human and animal remains!)
No ring

81. 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
Kimberly Process Certification Scheme

82. 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

83. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Gold:
Bans on use of cyanide for gold extraction
E.g., Montana, Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, several Argentinian provinces
UN Program providing 8 countries with financial and technical support to eradicate mercury from gold mining and processing

84. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Gold:
Develop biological and chemical treatments to decrease/destroy cyanide, mercury, and other mining contaminants, and alternatives to mercury-based smelting
Extract gold from biosolids (sewage sludge) – worth $millions

85. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Gold:
Ban on open pit gold mining
E.g., Costa Rica
Moratorium on gold mining
2017: El Salvador turned decade-long moratorium on gold mining into law

86. UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Passed 2007
Mandates principle of free, prior, and informed consent before any mining projects allowed on indigenous land
U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are non-signatories

87. 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

88. Safe Diamonds (?)

89. Safe Gold

90. Symbols of Love: Alternatives and Solutions
Consider alternative tokens of affection
Homemade gifts
Donations to charities
Eco-jewelry made from recycled materials by indigenous peoples
Profits returned to local communities, providing wide-ranging social and economic benefit

91. 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

92. 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

93. Paper/References
Donohoe MT. Flowers, diamonds, and gold: The destructive human rights and environmental consequences of symbols of love. Human Rights Quarterly 2008;30: Available at

94. Contact Information