Do You Know Where Your Gold Jewelry Comes From?

I read something today that has startled me so much I am ready to bury every piece of gold jewelry I own. That's right. Bury it. Not sell it, not melt it down, not give it away -- just bury it.

There is an article written by AP journalists, RUKMINI CALLIMACHI AND BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, that details the life of children who mine for gold in the three west African countries. Some of these children are as young as four years young.

The title of their article, AP IMPACT -- Kids working in African gold mines, is searchable and easily found. I hope you take the time to find it and read it and then do the right thing.

Don't buy any more gold.

Don't sell the gold you own.

Don't wear it, and don't melt it down. Don't give it away. Just put it so far away in your closet that you will never remember where it is.

These children - perhaps you have a four year old child at home - are being exposed to liquid mercury to fetter out the gold from the mud. They are inhaling the fumes from the mercury and their lungs and their skin are being irreversibly damaged.

Is your gold jewelry worth a child's life?

This is not the time to be passive. This is not the time to sit back and say, "Let someone else step up to the plate and do something."

This is YOUR time. Save these children. Stop buying gold.