Knowledge Blog

Pollutant Guides

• When is a coating lead paint? The threshold values compared

  0.35 percent lead in an old coating, is that a lot? Why that number does not define lead paint, which limits really apply, and what the intermediate range means. Every value with a primary source.

  Pollutant Guides July 15, 2026 20 min read

• Lead in the building: paint, pipes, dust, risk and law

  Lead is found in old paints, water pipes and house dust. Where it occurs and why even small amounts are especially dangerous for children.

  Pollutant Guides July 12, 2026 7 min read

• VOC after renovation: when the new home smells

  After a renovation or new build it often smells 'new': volatile organic compounds (VOC) from fresh materials. Where they come from, when they cause harm, and why the TVOC value is not a health limit.

  Pollutant Guides June 18, 2026 9 min read

• MMF: when old mineral wool becomes a problem

  With the most common fibrous insulation it is not the material that decides, but a measurable fibre property: biosolubility. Why old mineral wool is classed as suspected of causing cancer and modern wool is not, and what the chemistry has to do with it.

  Pollutant Guides June 16, 2026 15 min read

• Recognising asbestos: occurrence, risk, law and approach

  Asbestos cannot be recognised by eye. Where it occurs in buildings, whether Eternit is asbestos, what makes it dangerous and how to detect it reliably.

  Pollutant Guides June 12, 2026 8 min read

• Wood preservatives: PCP and lindane in treated timber

  PCP and lindane were applied for decades to roof trusses and beams. Why treated timber still off-gases years later, what the studies on cancer and other harm actually show, how the contamination is measured, and who in the household is most affected.

  Pollutant Guides June 10, 2026 19 min read

• PCB in sealants: from the joint into the concrete

  PCB are found in the elastic joint sealants of concrete and office buildings of the 1960s/70s. Why they are carcinogenic, how they migrate into adjacent components, and what the guide values lowered in 2025 require.

  Pollutant Guides June 9, 2026 8 min read

• Radon in Austria: occurrence, risk, measurement and law

  Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. Where it occurs in Austria, how large the risk really is according to the major studies, how to measure it correctly, and what the Radon Protection Ordinance requires.

  Pollutant Guides June 4, 2026 13 min read

• Pollutants by construction year: what is in which building

  Every building era has its pollutants. From lead in the Gründerzeit through the asbestos and PCB decades to the VOC of new builds: what is in which building.

  Pollutant Guides June 2, 2026 5 min read

Background

• The occupational-disease gap: who counts as an asbestos victim

  A legal category decides who is counted and compensated as an asbestos victim: why Austria recognises only part of its occupational mesotheliomas, and why non-occupational victims fall through the net entirely.

  Background July 10, 2026 13 min read

• Tar and PAH in old buildings: why two identical-looking black masses are differently dangerous

  Coal tar and bitumen look identical but are opposites at the molecular level. How to tell them apart, where the tar sits, and why it matters.

  Background July 6, 2026 16 min read

• One value is not enough: the toxicity equivalent for PAH

  Why benzo[a]pyrene alone underestimates the PAH burden: the toxicity equivalent, the role of the factor set, and what the 16 EPA PAHs miss.

  Background July 4, 2026 7 min read

• Serpentinite under the electron microscope: what two Budapest geologists observe on cutting and grinding

  SEM observations from the Hungarian Academy: cutting serpentinite releases fibres below 1 micrometre, grinding releases them en masse. Context and sources.

  Background July 4, 2026 8 min read

• The backstory: 100 years of asbestos in Burgenland

  The asbestos-bearing serpentinite of the Rechnitz window was mined, marketed, medically studied and litigated long before Greenpeace arrived in 2026.

  Background June 20, 2026 10 min read

• Asbestos and health: diseases, dose, and fibre type

  Asbestos and disease: mesothelioma and lung cancer, the fibre-year as a measure of cumulative dose, and why white and blue asbestos are not equally dangerous.

  Background June 19, 2026 19 min read

• Serpentinite, asbestos and the geology of the Rechnitz Window

  How asbestos forms in serpentinite: serpentinization, the three serpentine minerals, why chrysotile grows fibrous, and why the Rechnitz Window is affected.

  Background June 14, 2026 31 min read

• The GeoSphere dispersion model: what it shows and what it doesn't

  The GeoSphere Austria dispersion calculation for the four closed quarries: why the 3-percent input value is set rather low and how the model scales.

  Background June 11, 2026 8 min read

• Eternit: the story of a promise of eternity

  How an entrepreneur invented asbestos cement in Vöcklabruck around 1900, named it after eternity, and created a material that conquered the world.

  Background June 7, 2026 6 min read

• Austria's mesothelioma map: what the district figures reveal about asbestos

  Mesothelioma cases by district, 1990 to 2011: the highest rates are where asbestos was processed. Burgenland is elevated without such an industry.

  Background May 31, 2026 6 min read

Fact check

• Fact check: Hans-Peter Hutter's Falter statements on asbestos

  Task force lead Hutter's Falter answer on Szombathely, checked against the record: the lab and values behind the readings, and the gravel's origin.

  Fact check June 21, 2026 7 min read