“There were three channels coming out of the factory. Through them, thousands of tons of blue and white asbestos got into the sea (chrysotile and crocodolite – note ed.),” Grgo Mandić, a former employee of the Salonit company, described for the HRT station. “It all went straight into the sea,” he emphasized.
According to the website morski.hr, the factory area itself has already been rehabilitated, but the beach is still awaiting remediation. Officials in the town of Solin, where Vranjic falls, keep putting it off, saying they are “waiting for European money,” according to local activists from the “A place that wants to live” initiative.
According to the website, the beach has been declared a “health hazard” but still remains open. Visitors, especially tourists, and among them small children, have no idea what the risk is.
“It is tragic that Solin persistently invites citizens and tourists to the asbestos dump, which they call the city beach,” said activist Marijana Grubičová, according to the portal morski.hr. “Children splash in the shallow water and play in the sand here. Sometimes they dig up mud, in this case asbestos mud,” explained Grubičová, who repeatedly calls on the officials to install warning signs around the beach, fence it and “finally start remediation.”
No fence, no warning signs
According to the website, the city of Solin has been promising a remedy for several years. Activists have been corresponding with the town hall for four years in vain. According to Grubičová, the authorities are still delaying the solution to the problem. “When we requested to fence the contaminated area, they told us that the beach cannot be fenced because the quality of the sea is good,” she said. “Immediately, they wrote to us that they will fence the beach when the rehabilitation begins,” she added.
The negative impact of asbestos on human health has been known for a long time. For the first time in history, due to health damage caused by this material, a legal right to compensation was recognized in 1926 in the USA. The production and use of asbestos are currently heavily regulated or even banned in most countries.
Asbestos enters the human body by inhalation. Its microfibers can penetrate the respiratory tract and reach the lungs, where frequent inflammation and tissue scarring occur. This reduces the capacity of the lungs and leads to impaired oxygen transfer, chronic bronchitis and other health complications. Asbestos is a proven carcinogen.
Hazardous asbestos: A material that is harmful to health and causes cancer
Health
