A Defining Moment for Lab-Grown Diamonds

The rules only permit the use of words such as "Real" and "Genuine" for mined diamonds Lab-grown diamond manufacturers will almost certainly use the amendments for marketing purposes, now that they can tell consumers that their stones are diamonds even if they're not from the ground The new guidelines "Have created confusion and misunderstanding as they redefine the word 'diamond' to include synthetic, man-made, non-natural, artificial, imitation diamonds," Martin Rapaport, Chairman of the Rapaport Group, said in a trade alert Monday.

The FTC is now at odds with the International Organization for Standardization, which in 2015 defined the mineral as being "Created by nature," stating that "The denomination 'diamond' without further specification always implies 'natural diamond.'" The new delineation also conflicts with that of the Blue Book, the set of industry standards the World Jewelry Confederation publishes, and with the "Diamond Terminology Guideline" that nine natural-diamond organizations published in January "Removing the word 'natural' legally clarified what we produce: diamond, identical to a naturally occurring diamond," said Tom Chatham, CEO of Chatham Created Gems & Diamonds The FTC's previous guidelines, which it wrote in 1956, didn't make sense anymore, lab-grown diamond manufacturer Diamond Foundry argued in comments during the FTC's review process.

The commission agreed, explaining that mining was no longer the only way of producing diamonds. . Source