Environment
Why FSC is preferred
Dr Barry Tomkins in his letter (The Age 16/11) highlights an important difference between the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) and Forest Stewardship Certification.
That the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) does not recognise federal and state regulation of agricultual chemical use in plantation establishment appears to be a positive for FSC certification over the AFS.
Federal and state regulations allow for the aerial spraying of the dangerous endocrine disrupting triazine herbicides which have been banned by the European Union because of human health concerns.
There is much peer reviewed scientific evidence which suggests that Australian regulatory authorities should also ban the use of these chemicals and I would prefer wood products which had been certified as not to have been produced with their aid.