More On Burmese Gemstones

(via JCKOnline/Gary Roskin) Here is an interesting clip via CNN's Jonathan Mann:
"Myanmar Gems; Trade keeps military junta amply funded in Myanmar" + Jeremy Woodrum's U.S. Campaign for Burma + Jewelers of America's initiative asking the US Congress to amend the Burmese Freedom & Democracy Act of 2003

I really don't know how it's going to work. If there aren't any co-operation from India, China, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, it's just talk-talk with no results. I think the Americans have made the first (good) move, followed by the Europeans. You have got to find a way to educate consumers, not only in America and Europe but in Asia to highlight the plight of the Burmese. I hear Tiffany and Cartier have decided not to purchase Burmese gemstones. Good deed, but for how long? What about the jewelry stores in other parts of the world, especially Asia? That's where the action is. Till you mobilize the big market, gemstones will still be arriving via Burma with dubious identification reports. May be gem testing laboratories like the Gubelin, GRS, SSEF, AGTA and Collectors Universe could go the extra mile to help the industry because bulk of the Burmese origin reports are issued by these labs for the trade, collectors and consumers.