RAPAPORT... One blog entry on conflict diamonds appeared overnight on Wired (Wired Magazine) November 7.
While blogging can often be passed-off lightly, Wired's readers shouldn't be ignored as a majority of them are professional, well-educated, and high-end wage earners in the United States.
The full story can be read here:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/11/blood-diamonds-.html
The author of the piece asks if Amazon.com sells blood diamonds. "Without certification, it's hard to tell," read the story title by Natali Del Conte.
She found that Amazon.com wouldn't tell her whether or not "all jewelry it sells is conflict-free, meaning the diamonds it contains are guaranteed not to have been brought to market through violence, human rights abuse, child labor, or environmental destruction..."
"Approximately 5 percent of all diamonds sold, and an unknown number of Amazon's, are blood diamonds," wrote Del Conte without citing sources.
Del Conte did quote the founder of The Conflict Free Diamond Council, Robert Cosentino, as saying the only way to ensure conflict-free diamonds is through certification.
Amazon apparently told the writer "all diamonds on the [web]site are supposed to be conflict free" to which Del Conte followed up by saying "Amazon's product listings do not specify which diamond products have been certified as conflict free."
As of this morning there was only one comment to the blog post so far and it read: "Blood diamonds? Why do I care? Everything from China comes from areas the [sic] exploit. I'd rather save a quarter, then buy conflict free," written by someone posting as William Ferguson.