DiCaprio: Buy Conflict Free Diamonds

In what seems like a certain turn of heart, Blood Diamond lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio is advising diamond jewelry buyers to ask retailers for proof they are offering only conflict-free diamonds. In a recent Time magazine interview, he said he would no longer let any date of his wear diamonds.

At a time when the diamond industry is keeping its collective fingers crossed that the fall-out from the movie will be minimal, it is naturally sensitive to any public proclamation by the Hollywood star. After the statement closing his interview with Time magazine was published, some in the industry feared that DiCaprio would be an advocate for not buying diamonds.

However, this weekend a different statement was made by DiCaprio, a kind that actually supports true industry efforts to ban trade in illicit diamonds.

“[W]hat I learned from my conversations about diamonds from Global Witness and Amnesty International is you have to go into the stores where you buy these diamonds and ask for authentication that it isn't a conflict diamond,” he was quoted by World Entertainment News Network.

“That's one of the biggest ways this whole process can be put to a stop. Ultimately diamonds are a source of economic stability in Africa, but what they're specifically trying to target is these conflict diamonds, these that have funded these warlords and caused this civil strife in Africa.”

DiCaprio added that his mother is the only person for whom he would buy a diamond.