Are cultured pearls "organic real pearls"?

• The image below illustrates how a natural pearl is created. 
• Pearls may be found in saltwater or freshwater.
• Both saltwater and freshwater pearls may either be natural or cultured pearls.
• Natural pearls are at heart all nacre, with no shell bead as its core.
• Natural pearls are rare and costlier than cultured pearls by virtue of the following:
• It takes a tremendous amount of time to raise these mollusks; and
• No certainty that these molluscs will produce pearls successfully. Even if they do, resembling their mollusk counterparts, not all natural pearls will be of fine quality and desirable on every occasion.
• For the reasons above, majority of the pearls that are retailing today are cultured pearls. 
  
  

Cultured Pearl Farming

• As above, a natural pearl is created when a mollusk coats the irritant with nacre as a response to it.
• In a similar manner, a cultured pearl is created when a mollusk coats nacre around a shell bead that is implanted in the mollusk's tissues. 
• This shell bead is also known as mother-of-pearl.
• The shell bead is accompanied by a piece of mantle tissue during the implantation, which together, is the nucleus of the cultured pearl. 
• Just like a natural pearl, a cultured pearl is also organic and real, with a catalyst and some helping hands.