Vietnam is illegally logging vast areas of rainforest in neighboring Laos and turning it into furniture for consumers in the US and Europe. This is the claim of the UK-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which stated: "Vietnam's booming economy and demand for cheap furniture in the West is driving rapid deforestation in Laos." There are estimates that the timber illegally crossing into vietnam is worth billions of dollars. This now makes Vietnam a world centre for logging. Loggers pay huge bribes to smuggle the logs across the border. The EIA's head of forest campaigns Julian Newman pointed out that poor villages suffer most: "The cost of such...greed is [paid] by poor rural communities in Laos who are dependent on the forests for their traditional livelihoods," he said. The EIA said it was up to Western governments to act to stop the deforestation in Laos. EIA spokeswoman Faith Doherty said the US Congress was taking steps to ban the import of illegal wood products. She also said the European Union was creating a certificate system to make sure of the origin of all wood products. Newman agreed, stating: "The ultimate responsibility for this dire state of affairs rests with the consumer markets which import wood products made from stolen timber." The report says actions taken by the West have not worked: "The stark reality is business as usual' for the organized syndicates looting the remaining precious tropical forests for a quick profit," authors say. They add that Thai and Singapore traders are also "cashing in by exploiting their northern neighbor.