My Dead Sea products come from Jordan, not from Israel or The West Bank.

Clients have always asked me about the origins of the Dead Sea Salt and Mud that I carry and use, and interest has increased since a boycott of Israeli Dead Sea products has begun for both political and environmental reasons.

I believe that the Dead Sea products I use and sell are the most ethical on the market because:

~ My supplier uses an ethical screening process for all its products, and I am in the process of learning more specifics about its assessment of these Dead Sea products.

~ Of the three countries that border on the Dead Sea - Israel, West Bank and Jordan - Jordan presently, in my opinion, has the best environmental management plan for the Dead Sea, and is presently not the subject of human rights concerns.

~ According to my information, the mineral evaporation ponds that comprise the southern tip of the Dead Sea were created and are maintained for the extraction of industrial minerals rather than sea salts. Dead Sea Salts are therapeutic, but not edible, and its production by relative volume is small.

~ The receeding shoreline of the Dead Sea is not related to the extraction of salts, but rather to global warming, the siphoning off of waters that feed the Dead Sea for drinking water, and by irresponsible industrial activity. Read below how Jordan plans to rectify the situation, which has been going on since 1900 see http://www.iwrm-smart.org/

I invite you to comment below by offering a concern, an opinion or new information.

Here follows the related Wikipedia entries on the Dead Sea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea#Recession_and_environmental_concer...

Industry

View of salt evaporation pans on the Dead Sea, taken in 1989 from the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-28). The southern half is separated from the northern half at what used to be the Lisan Peninsula because of the fall of the level of Dead Sea.

View of the mineral evaporation ponds almost 12 years later (STS-102). A northern and small southeastern extension were added and the large polygonal ponds subdivided.

In the early part of the 20th century, the Dead Sea began to attract interest from chemists who deduced that the Sea was a natural deposit of potash and bromine. The Palestine Potash Company was chartered in 1929 after its founder, Siberian Jewish engineer and pioneer of Lake Baikal exploitation Moses Novomeysky, worked for the charter ex for over ten years. The first plant was on the north shore of the Dead Sea at Kalia and produced potash, or potassium chloride, by solar evaporation of the brine. Employing Arabs and Jews, it was an island of peace in turbulent times. The company quickly grew into the largest industrial site in the Middle East[citation needed] and in 1934 built a second plant on the southwest shore, in the Mount Sodom area, south of the 'Lashon' region of the Dead Sea. Palestine Potash Company supplied half of Britain's potash during World War II, but ultimately became a casualty of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its remnants were nationalised and Dead Sea Works Ltd. was established in 1952 in its stead as a state-owned company to extract potash and other minerals from the Dead Sea.

From the Dead Sea brine, Israel produces (2001) 1.77 million tons potash, 206,000 tons elemental bromine, 44,900 tons caustic soda, 25,000 tons magnesium metal, and sodium chloride. On the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, Arab Potash (APC), formed in 1956, produces 2.0 million tons of potash annually, as well as sodium chloride and bromine. Both companies use extensive salt evaporation pans that have essentially diked the entire southern end of the Dead Sea for the purpose of producing carnallite, potassium magnesium chloride, which is then processed further to produce potassium chloride. The ponds are separated by a central dike that runs—roughly north-south—along the international border. The power plant on the Israeli side allows production of magnesium metal (by a subsidiary, Dead Sea Magnesium Ltd.). The salt evaporation pans are visible from space.

Due to the popularity of the sea's therapeutic and healing properties, several companies have also shown interest in the manufacturing and supplying of Dead Sea salts as raw materials for body and skin care products.

Recession and environmental concerns

The dwindling water level of the dead sea

In recent decades, the Dead Sea has been rapidly shrinking because of diversion of incoming water from the Jordan River to the north. The southern end is fed by a canal maintained by the Dead Sea Works, a company that converts the sea's raw materials. From a depression of 395 m (1,296 ft) below sea level in 1970[22] it fell 22 m (72 ft) to 418 m (1,371 ft) below sea level in 2006, reaching a drop rate of 1 m (3 ft) per year. As the water level decreases, the characteristics of the Sea and surrounding region may substantially change.

The Dead Sea level drop has been followed by a groundwater level drop, causing brines that used to occupy underground layers near the shoreline to be flushed out by freshwater. This is believed to be the cause of the recent appearance of large sinkholes along the western shore — incoming freshwater dissolves salt layers, rapidly creating subsurface cavities that subsequently collapse to form these sinkholes.[23]

In May 2009 at the World Economic Forum, Jordan announced its plans to construct the "Jordan National Red Sea Development Project" (JRSP). This is a plan to convey seawater from the Red Sea near Aqaba to the Dead Sea. Water would be desalinated along the route to provide freshwater to Jordan, with the brine discharge sent to the Dead Sea for replenishment. As of 2009, the project is in its early phases of planning, with developer and financier selection to be completed by years end. The project is anticipated to begin detailed design in early 2010 with water delivery by 2017. Israel has expressed its support and will likely benefit from some of the water delivery to its Negev region. Some hydro-power will be collected near the Dead Sea from the dramatic change in elevation on the downhill side of the project.[citation needed] In October 2009, the Jordanians announced accelerated plans to extract around 300 million cubic metres of water per annum from the Red Sea, desalinate it for use as fresh water and send the waste water to the Dead Sea by tunnel, despite concerns about inadequate time to assess the potential environmental impact.[24]

At a regional conference in July 2009, officials expressed increased concerns that water levels are dropping. Some suggested that various industrial activities around the Dead Sea might need to be reduced. Others advised a range of possible environmental measures to restore conditions. This might include increasing the volume of flow from the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea. Currently, only sewage and effluent from fishponds run in the river's channel. Experts also asserted a need for strict conservation efforts. They also said that agriculture should not be expanded, sustainable support capabilities should be incorporated into the area and pollution sources should be reduced.[25]

# ^ staff writer, ArabianBusiness.com (2007-05-22). "Jordan's Dead Sea Comes to Life". Arabian Business. http://www.arabianbusiness.com/property/article/12982-jordanian-secret. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
# ^ C. Klein, A. Flohn, Contribution to the Knowledge in the Fluctuations of the Dead Sea Level. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, vol. 38, p. 151–156, 1987
# ^ M. Abelson, Y. Yechieli, O. Crouvi, G. Baer, D. Wachs, A. Bein, V. Shtivelman. "Evolution of the Dead Sea Sinkholes", in New Frontiers in Dead Sea Paleoenvironmental Research, Geological Society of America, special paper 401, p. 241–253, 2006
# ^ Jordan to refill shrinking Dead Sea Daily Telegraph 13 October 2009
# ^ Back from the Dead?, Ehud Zion Waldoks, The Jerusalem Post, July 8, 2009.