On 26 May 2026, Assoz. Prof. DI Dr. Hans-Peter Hutter, head of the Land Burgenland task force "Vorsorgeabklärung Luftqualität", commented in Falter (issue 22/2026, interview by Matthias Winterer) on the asbestos contamination in the Hungarian city of Szombathely. We check the factual claims in his answer against the publicly documented record, and we flag where a piece of information comes from a party with a stake in the matter. No judgement of the person, only the sources.
The question and the answer
Falter put the question like this:
„Die ungarische Stadt Szombathely will den Gesundheitsnotstand ausrufen. In einer Wohnsiedlung liegt Asbestschotter, wahrscheinlich aus dem Burgenland. Wird der Skandal in Österreich verharmlost?"
In English: the Hungarian city of Szombathely intends to declare a health emergency; asbestos gravel, probably from Burgenland, lies in a residential area; is the scandal being played down in Austria?
Hutter's answer:
„Das ist eine berechtigte Frage, obwohl nicht geklärt ist, ob dieser Schotter tatsächlich aus dem Burgenland stammt. Unser Messtechniker kann die hohen Werte von Asbestfasern in der Umgebungsluft vor Ort, die ein ungarisches Labor gemessen hat, nicht nachvollziehen. Er selbst hat in Szombathely deutlich niedrigere Werte gemessen. Werte von bis zu 300.000 Fasern pro Kubikmeter Luft gibt es eigentlich nur in Steinbrüchen, wo asbesthaltiges Material zerkleinert wird. Wenn ein Bürgermeister solche Zahlen auf den Tisch bekommt, gerät er natürlich in Panik. Da muss er handeln. Wir halten sie aber nicht für realistisch."
In English: that is a legitimate question, although it has not been clarified whether this gravel actually comes from Burgenland; our measurement technician cannot make sense of the high airborne asbestos fibre values that a Hungarian laboratory measured on site; he himself measured significantly lower values in Szombathely; values of up to 300,000 fibres per cubic metre really only occur in quarries where asbestos material is crushed; when a mayor is handed such figures, he naturally panics and has to act; but we do not consider them realistic.
The answer contains two checkable strands: the readings together with the laboratory, and the origin of the gravel.
The laboratory and the values
The "Hungarian laboratory" is the same firm that also measures for the task force. Greenpeace, in its release of 14 April 2026: „Die Messungen wurden unter Beteiligung des gleichen Labors, das auch für das Land Burgenland aktiv ist, durchgeführt." (the measurements were carried out with the participation of the same laboratory that is also active for the Land Burgenland). The task force's laboratory is, per ORF Burgenland (2 February 2026), the Vienna firm ESW Consulting WRUSS; it names „der Ziviltechniker Hakan Kuleci von der Firma ESW Consulting WRUSS". The phrasing "a Hungarian laboratory" leaves this connection open.
The lower Austrian values have a documented explanation in the measurement conditions. The task force's own measurement at the Oberwart clinic produced 830 asbestos fibres per cubic metre, taken at „hohe[r] Luftfeuchtigkeit und nasse[m] Boden" (high humidity and wet ground); environmental toxicologist Norbert Weis: „Feuchtigkeit sei faserbindend" (humidity binds fibres) (Salzburger Nachrichten, 5 March 2026). Greenpeace environmental chemist Herwig Schuster likewise attributes the difference to the conditions: the Hungarian measurements were, he says, „bei trockenem Wetter unter Realbedingungen durchgeführt" (carried out in dry weather under real conditions), while the Land Burgenland rests „auf den letzten Messergebnissen aus dem Winter" (on its last results from winter) (Greenpeace, 14 April 2026). Moisture binds the fibres to the ground and lowers the reading. Hutter's own, lower on-site measurement is not publicly documented; its conditions are not available and cannot be directly compared with the seven Hungarian values.
On the order of magnitude: according to Greenpeace, the Hungarian laboratory report contains „sieben Messungen mit Messergebnissen zwischen mindestens 35.000 und 292.000 Fasern pro Kubikmeter" (seven measurements with results between at least 35,000 and 292,000 fibres per cubic metre). The 292,000 are therefore the highest, not the typical value, and Hutter's "up to 300,000" is the rounded statement of the same peak, not a different figure. Even the lowest of the seven values, however, is 35 times the task force's reference value of 1,000 fibres per cubic metre.
And the claim that such values "really only occur in quarries"? The up to 292,000 fibres were not measured in a quarry but in a residential area in Szombathely, on a gravel road (Greenpeace, 14 April 2026; 20 Minuten, 16 April 2026).
In sum: the laboratory is the same, the lower Austrian values stem from fibre-suppressing winter and humidity conditions, and the peak value was determined in a residential area, not in a quarry. Hutter's doubt about the representativeness of a single peak value remains untouched by this; his framing of the laboratory as merely "Hungarian" and of the high values as occurring "only in quarries", by contrast, stands in tension with the documented record.
The origin
The second strand is more delicate than the headline suggests. Falter asked about gravel "probably from Burgenland"; Hutter answered that it is "not clarified" whether "this gravel actually comes from Burgenland". Both words, "probably" and "not clarified", concern the attribution of this one specific batch of gravel sampled in Szombathely.
What is publicly documented is the broader trade route. The Hungarian tax and customs authority NAV released its EKÁER freight data in response to a data request; it documents deliveries of gravel to Hungarian municipalities from the four closed Burgenland quarries: Pilgersdorf, Bernstein, Rumpersdorf (Glashütten) and Badersdorf. According to the G7/Telex analysis (27 May 2026), around 2.8 million tonnes of stone and gravel were delivered from Austrian quarries to Hungary between 1998 and 2025; the NAV data names more than 250 affected municipalities (HVG, 23 May 2026). These freight data had been public since 23 May 2026.
They establish that asbestos-bearing gravel from Burgenland reached Hungary over a wide area, that is, goods movements and first destinations, but not that the stones of this one Szombathely road come from a particular Burgenland quarry. The attribution of the specific Szombathely material to Burgenland rests on Greenpeace and Hungarian official statements; an independent forensic confirmation of the individual batch cannot be derived from it. Hutter's "not clarified", referring to precisely this single-batch attribution and given in answer to a "probably", is to that extent defensible, even if the documented trade route makes a Burgenland origin plausible.
Timeline
- 5 March 2026: The task force's own measurement at the Oberwart clinic, 830 fibres per cubic metre, taken on wet ground in high humidity (Salzburger Nachrichten).
- 14 April 2026: In Szombathely, seven values between 35,000 and 292,000 fibres per cubic metre are documented, with the participation of the same laboratory that is also active for the Land Burgenland; Hungary declares a health emergency (Greenpeace).
- 23 May 2026: The NAV freight data on the four quarries becomes public (HVG).
- 26 May 2026: Hutter, in Falter: the origin of the specific batch is "not clarified", and the high values are "not considered realistic".
Note
Hans-Peter Hutter's position is represented by his statements in the Falter interview (issue 22/2026); the quoted question and answer are reproduced in full. Several of the assessments drawn on here, for instance regarding the same laboratory, the measurement conditions and the origin, come from a release by Greenpeace, an organisation with a stake in the matter; we flag this. Should any point presented here be demonstrably incorrect, we will correct it.
Sources
- Falter 22/2026, 26 May 2026: falter.at
- ORF Burgenland, 2 February 2026: burgenland.orf.at
- Greenpeace (APA-OTS), 14 April 2026: ots.at
- Salzburger Nachrichten, 5 March 2026: sn.at
- 20 Minuten, 16 April 2026: 20min.ch
- G7/Telex, 27 May 2026: telex.hu
- HVG, 23 May 2026: hvg.hu
- Land Burgenland, task force "Vorsorgeabklärung Luftqualität": burgenland.at
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