First of all, I want to thank waffle for this GREAT idea... I have had fun with this all day.
I am Iluvsheep
Neckbone
Sutekh 12/22/04 5:32 PM
I was pondering one night and was wondering how you feel about pearls. I wouldn't use them... both because of where they come from and because I just don't like them. I just don't often hear people talk about pearls, and I even hear people talk about how cruel sponges are... What do you think?
[tWitch] 12/22/04 5:34 PM
For some reason that just doesn't strike me as cruel, although I'm not sure why...Maybe its just because I don't know how pearls are acquired, and clams just...I don't know. Nevermind.
KoalaEva 12/22/04 5:43 PM
Please use the search tool bar:
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http://216.197.111.89/public/folder_view.cfm?pageid=341&option=view_thread&postid=783300&folderid=727 -
http://216.197.111.89/public/folder_view.cfm?pageid=341&option=view_thread&postid=848799&folderid=727 -
http://216.197.111.89/public/folder_view.cfm?pageid=341&option=view_thread&postid=901479&folderid=727 -
http://216.197.111.89/public/folder_view.cfm?pageid=341&option=view_thread&postid=921651&folderid=727 I think they're bad because you have to irritate a clam to get them.
Sutekh 12/22/04 5:46 PM
Pearls are created when something gets caught in an oyster's body. The oyster will add layers around that irritant and creates a pearl. People basically farm pearls by putting things like beads or other irritants into the oyster, then opening the oyster in a few years to get the pearl out.
zyclone12 12/22/04 5:51 PM
i dont like pearls. its cruel to the oysters.
[tWitch] 12/22/04 5:52 PM
Thanks for the information! I really didn't know that, but now I do!
Iluvsheep 12/22/04 6:20 PM
Pearls occur naturally... I think even if they are raised in a bed, the oysters don't know the difference. I don't see the problem... I'm planning on giving my girlfriend a pearl necklace for X-mas.
Iluvsheep
KoalaEva 12/22/04 6:24 PM
Iluvsheep -
A pearl is an ulcer that is formed when an irritant, such as a parasite, enters an oyster, who responds by coating it with nacre (a crystalline substance that gives pearls their luster). Stress is what prompts an oyster to secrete nacre (just like stress creates human ulcers).
Because pearls naturally form in only one in 10,000 oysters and because the creation of a pearl can take up to three years, pearl-makers have devised a process called “culturing,” or cultivating, that allows them to exploit oysters faster and cheaper.
Culturing involves surgically opening each oyster shell and inserting an irritant in the oyster. Freshwater pearls are cultured by inserting another oyster’s mantle tissue. Saltwater pearls have beads and another oyster’s mollusk tissue inserted. Fewer than half of the oysters may survive this process.
Cultivators further stress the oysters by suspending them in water in a cage, washing their shells, moving them around in different waters, and raising and lowering their cages to subject them to changing water temperatures.
After the pearls are extracted from the oysters, one-third of oysters are “recycled” and put through the culturing process again. The others are killed and discarded.
For those concerned about the environment, there is another reason to avoid pearls. Aquaculture has contributed to destruction of natural pearl oyster beds from pollution and overharvesting.
Of course, with so many modern pearl imitations, as well as other kinds of jewelry, it’s easy to do without pearls.
