Last year, it convened an expert scientific panel to review the safety and utility of the procedure.

The scientific panel said that it could not be ruled out that the carcinogenic potential of aniline was due to damage to the genetic material of cells.

Now a scientific panel has concluded that the risk could not be put down to chance, although the cause remained unknown.

The new authority will thus have to rely heavily on advice from external, unaccountable scientific panels.

The boycott was called off once the scientific panel's recommendations were accepted by the government, deferring logging until an inventory of pristine areas was completed.