Man-Made Diamonds Look Real, Cost Much Less

(CBS) -- Some people call it a modern miracle. We can now produce diamonds in a laboratory that look just like the real thing. As CBS 2's Erin Kennedy reports, there are advantages to the man-made stones, but there's also controversy.

Lab grown diamonds are exactly the same optically, chemically and physically as one that comes from the earth.

Man-made diamonds start out as seeds of carbon that are grown over a matter of weeks in pressurized containers.

"Hydrogen and methane gasses are added to the chamber and then the miracle begins," said Lisa Bissell, president of Pure Grown Diamonds.

But for the consumers we spoke with, accepting man-made versus natural diamonds, will take some getting used to.