Resources & Links > Trade Talk The CCA issue should not be under-estimated, particularly as major buyers of Australian wines such as the United States and Europe may find it a convenient excuse to ban our wines on environmental grounds - which they are entitled to do, regardless of any free trade agreement that may exist. The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority recently expressed grave concerns about CCA, which has now been banned in the United States because it is believed to cause cancer due to its high arsenic levels. CCA-treated timber may well be banned eventually in Australia too. There's also real concern about how to safely dispose of the thousands of broken wooden posts each year that are CCA-treated. If they go to landfills the arsenic eventually leaches into groundwater. |