Myth 1
Lab-grown diamonds are not real diamonds.
Truth
“[Lab grown diamonds] are real diamonds.”Matthew Hall, Director, Gemological Institute of America (GIA)“They have the same optical, chemical, thermal, and physical features.”
A lab-grown diamond is atomically and structurally identical to a mined natural diamond. They have the exact identical properties.
The only difference is whether a diamond was produced using modern equipment or extracted from earth using industrial mining.
They are indistinguishable to any jeweler. The only difference is their origin.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission agrees – it revised its Jewelry Guides in 2018 and removed “natural” from the definition of diamond, recognizing that diamonds can also be grown in a laboratory:
“These [lab grown diamond] stones have essentially the same optical, physical, and chemical properties as mined diamonds. Thus, they are diamonds.”
Lab-grown diamonds are not simulants such as cubic zirconia and moissanite, which may resemble diamond but are completely different materials. GIA: diamond simulants.
Misleading Marketing by Diamond Miners
According to a U.S. ruling, the diamond mining cartel engaged in deceptive marketing by using the word ‘real’ pertaining to lab grown diamonds in a derogatory way, suggesting they are not.
The National Advertising Division (NAD), the U.S. advertising industry’s self-regulatory body, criticized the Natural Diamond Council, now renamed to The Diamond Collective, for its use of the word real in certain marketing, as it might imply that lab-grown diamonds are not actual diamonds, something the Federal Trade Commission has said can be misleading.
The diamond miners’ marketing statements challenged by the NAD include:
- “Today, there are many laboratory-grown and synthetic diamonds on the market. These are also made of carbon, but without the earthly origins of real diamonds, they lack the unique qualities infused by nature.”
- “The difference between a real diamond and a lab-grown diamond is simple.… A real diamond is unique and rare, formed one hundred miles below Earth’s surface up to 3 billion years ago.”
The NAD advised that “In the context of NDC’s challenged advertising, consumers may incorrectly conflate LGDs like Diamond Foundry’s with imitation diamonds like moissanite and cubic zirconia, which do not share the same physical properties as mined diamonds.”
The NAD decision added: “The issue is not that Natural Diamond Council uses real as a term to describe its own mined diamonds; nothing in the FTC Jewelry Guides would flatly prohibit that use. The issue is that NDC uses real in a pointed manner to distinguish mined diamonds from LGDs.”
The U.S. National Advertising Division recommended that the Natural Diamond Council discontinue the implied claim that man-made diamonds are not "real" diamonds, and express claims that:
- "Today, there are many laboratory-grown and synthetic diamonds on the market. These are also made of carbon, but without the Earthly origins of real diamonds, they lack the unique qualities infused by nature."
- "The difference between a real diamond and a lab-grown diamond is simple . . . A real diamond is unique and rare, formed one hundred miles below earth's surface up to 3 billion years ago. Real diamonds undergo extraordinary environmental circumstances, bursting towards the earth's surface through volcanic eruptions. They are miracles of nature."