Asbestos-contaminated roads pose health risks in Hungary

Residents in over one hundred Hungarian settlements face health risks from roads paved with asbestos-containing crushed stone. This material, sourced from Austrian mines, was widely used in the Western Transdanubia region. Recent measurements in Kőszeg revealed asbestos levels in the air reaching 40 times the health limit.

While the government has launched a grant program for municipalities to decontaminate these roads, some local governments, such as Szombathely, find the requirements impossible to meet. Szombathely has instead begun covering asbestos-containing cobblestones with bitumen. However, Greenpeace and physicist Sándor Lakó from the Neumann János University of Kecskemét have criticized this approach, warning that the technology used may endanger both workers and nearby residents.