Hi guys! July is a great month to raise awareness about the often unethical gem trade. Rubies (July's birthstone) are a perfect example of mining gone wrong. The government of Myanmar--previously Burma has used slave and child labor for decades to mine rubies, corundum, jadeite and other stones. They have used proceeds from this human rights defying trade to fund wars and mass genocide and to ingrain an anti-muslim mentality into the general public-fueling riots and murders. PLEASE KNOW WHERE YOUR STONES COME FROM, otherwise you may be perpetuating violence and war and/or slave and child labor. *the rubies I use in my designs are from Africa, because unfortunately most rubies from Asia could be Burmese, since only the US has imposed a trade imbargo.