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Perry Gottesfeld | OK International

2019: Public Impacts of the Jewelry Supply Chain

Perry Gottesfeld is the Executive Director of Occupational Health at Knowledge International (OK International), a nonprofit organization. He founded OK International in 1999 to address inequities in environmental and occupational standards between developed and developing countries. Gottesfeld obtained his Masters of Public Health in Biomedical and Environmental Health Sciences from University of California at Berkeley. Gottesfeld also served on the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention where he co-chaired the committee that developed the current U.S. national guidelines for childhood lead poisoning prevention. In 2014 he received the Social Responsibility Award from the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Session Description

Public Health Impacts of the Jewelry Supply Chain: Challenges and Solutions

- Review of key public health hazards in jewelry supply chain (mercury, cyanide, safety)
- Dust hazard in mining and cutting: link to silicosis and TB
- UN TB Declaration call for action
- Highlighting solutions: Case study of safer mining project in Nigeria
- Recommendations on the way forward

Listeners should better understand the relative risks associated with common health hazards in the jewelry supply chain and be aware of successful pilot intervention programs that have successfully reduced exposures in small-scale mining and gem cutting.