The diamond industry will take out full-page advertisements in major newspapers in the United States on Wednesday to help combat any negative publicity from Leonardo DiCaprio's new movie Blood Diamond. Although the film won't be released until December 15, the industry is already going on the offensive announcing a new website detailing what's been done to put a stop to "conflict diamonds."

The smuggled gems have been used to support brutal dictators and human atrocities in various African countries in the past. In the film, DiCaprio plays a mercenary gun smuggler who takes up with a diamond buyer during the violent 1999 civil war in Sierra Leone.

World Diamond Council chair Eli Izhakoff said the film represents the way things previously were in Sierra Leone and other countries, but that the industry has worked hard since then to eradicate the problem, including supporting the Kimberly Process, whereby rough diamonds are tracked and certified.

He says, "We want to make sure that when people go to buy diamonds, they do it happily, assured that the diamonds they are buying aren't tainted."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)