Are there ethical/moral concerns when buying cheap pearls from China?

[CowPrincess]

I've been looking at some really funky, oddball "baroque" necklaces from China on ebay. They are VERY inexpensive, appear to be poor-quality dyed pearls with visible flaws, so I'd be buying one or two just as "fun" pieces.

Before I spend my money, though, I'm wondering if there are moral or ethical concerns with the production of these necklaces, e.g. (but not limited to), is it child labor?

Any input would be appreciated.

[Caitlin]

No child labor. The dyes are not organic, of course, but they do make a lot of unattractive freshwaters look better. We have some old threads with lots of photos of the work force. All adults. They need to sell all that production that isn't great pearls and that is 99% of the pearls, which are junk for one reason or another, dyed and sold very cheaply rather than throwing them away.

[CowPrincess]

Thanks Caitlin for your response. Using "Search" never occurred to me, I'll try to do better about that

[Amrita]

Definitely no child labor issues in the pearl industry (or any other industry that I have heard of) in China.

[Cees]

It turned out that in a recent clash between the Philippines and China around the Spratley islands, a Chinese vessel got away a load full of Tridacna Gigas, which they use to make beads for their pearl cultivation, these robbed shells are forbidden to be used and protected shells. This is the only ethical/moral concern I noticed.

[Caitlin]

I wonder what they plan to use the shells for? Sometimes they make enormous nuclei out of gigas shells..... They are protected but there are some who still use them. Has anyone seen any gigas-nucleated pearls?

[Mary Montpezat]

Sadly, ethically there is probably no difference between buying cheap pearls, Nike shoes and Chinese lightbulbs in terms of exploitation and poor working conditions. Unfortunately, boycotting purchases of Chinese goods rather than resulting in better working conditions would simply make poor people in China lose their poorly paid jobs and be left with nothing. : (

[pearlescence]

There is some evidence that wages are increasing relatively steeply in China . I heard of one soft furnishings manufacturer who had a factory in China bringing his production back to the UK as there was only a few pence per finished item between the the UK and China factories now as against half when he moved production there.
And what may eeem terrible working conditions to cossetted western sensibilities may be luxury to a worker from an emergent workforce.