Catholic Agency Poll: Shoppers Want Ethical Gold

Move over conflict diamonds, there’s a new controversy in town: Gold. A recent poll commissioned by the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) points to an interesting trend among jewelry consumers. The message is shoppers want “clean gold” and that if jewelry merchants in the UK don’t know where their gold comes from – they may face the wrath of ‘ethical’ consumers.

The YouGov poll was released on December 12. According to the results of the poll, 35 percent of people (or one out of three) would choose to shop at stores concerned about how their gold is produced.

“The poll results send a clear message to jewelry retailers that they can’t afford to ignore their customers’ wishes for clean gold,” said Sonya Maldar, CAFOD’s extractives analyst.

In a 2006 report, Unearth Justice: Counting the Cost of Gold, CAFOD presented evidence of increasing poverty, conflicts over the precious metal, cyanide and arsenic water contamination, deforestation – all the result of mining for gold. The report focused on Honduras and the Republic of Congo.

“Gold is one of the most prized commodities and a symbol of wealth and power,” said Chris Bain, CAFOD’s director at the time of the release of the report. “But how often do we think about how gold reaches our streets? Gold doesn’t look quite so shiny to many people in developing countries living in and around gold mines. To them, gold often means poverty, health risks and destruction of their homes and the environment.”

CAFOD is urging consumers to use their power to buy gold only from retailers who are supporting industry standards as outlined in its “12 Gold Rules for No Dirty Gold.” 

The “golden rules” include: respect for human rights; “free, prior and informed consent for affected communities”; safe working conditions for laborers; assurances that projects do not force communities off their lands; no dumping of mine waste into water sources; no mining operations in places of armed conflict nor ecologically fragile areas; full disclosure of social and environmental effects of mining operations; and covering all costs of closing down and cleaning up mine sites.