Behind the Valentine’s Day Glitter

Expand Mercury-contaminated water flows into the Bosigon River in Malaya, Camarines Norte. © 2014 Mark Z. Saludes for Human Rights Watch Valentine’s Day is coming up and you may be thinking of giving your partner a piece of jewelry, or of helping to pick one out yourself. As you think about what you like and can spend, add this to your considerations: Where does the jewelry come from, and under what conditions were the minerals mined? Because these conditions can be ugly. Take for example the widespread use of toxic mercury to process gold in small-scale mines, causing catastrophic pollution.…

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