The material, which is no longer used due to its carcinogenic properties, continues to line water pipes in parts of Belgrade and Vojvodina, but officials and experts interviewed by the BBC say there is no reason to panic.
Asbestos was popular as an "insulating material" in the 20th century, says Konstantin Ilijević, assistant professor at the Faculty of Chemistry in Belgrade, for the BBC in Serbian.
"However, scientists have observed that asbestos is corroded, releasing tiny particles that can cause health problems," he explains.
Serbia is one of the 70 countries in the world that have banned the use of all types of asbestos, they show the data International Asbestos Ban Secretariat.
However, it fell behind in parts Belgrade water supply network - in a length of almost 400 kilometers.
The largest number of asbestos cement pipelines are in the Belgrade municipalities of Čukarica, Palilula and Zemun, according to the PUK "Beogradski vodovod i kanalizacija" in a written response to the BBC in Serbian.
"Defects in asbestos cement pipelines are frequent and often complicated to repair, so their replacement is planned depending on the available financial and operational-technical capacity," they stated.
The city authorities announced the replacement of all worn-out pipelines, but the company did not answer the question about the schedule and pace of the replacement and risk management during the replacement.
BBC journalists calculated that at a pace of 10 kilometers per year, replacing the pipe would take nearly four decades.
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What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a natural mineral which occurs in nature and is found in rock deposits all over the planet, from the Italian Alps to Australia.
It gained popularity in the construction industry due to its insulating properties and fire resistance.
"It has a fibrous structure, and it is made of fine needles, only a few macrometers long," says Ilijević.
"The problem with asbestos is that it is easy to crown, the particles are blown around, and when they enter the human body, they can penetrate deeply," he adds.
The needles are so small that the human respiratory system, "starting with the hairs in the nose", cannot efficiently filter them, as the body "does it every day with the dust we inhale".
The body registers them as a "foreign body that it is trying to get rid of".
"But, since they are so small, most of the time he cannot expel them and inflammations can be created there, which increase the risk of cancer," explains the chemist.
Ilijević points out that "if you once inhaled asbestos, it does not mean that you are condemned to death".
"However, the probability of developing the disease is higher than in people who have not come into contact with asbestos," he warns.
Where are the asbestos water pipes and what happens when they burst?
In Serbia, asbestos-cement pipes were left behind in certain parts of Belgrade and Vojvodina, it says RTS.
"Asbestos-cement pipes do not affect the quality of drinking water, because the water is not in direct contact with asbestos-cement because there is insulation of the inner walls of the pipes in the form of a cement lining or special emulsions", he said Branimir Sević, executive director of "Vodovod".
"Toxic heavy metals, carcinogenic substances, and asbestos fibers have never been found in Belgrade's drinking water," he added.
One of the problems with asbestos-cement pipes is that they are brittle and break easily, Sević said.
The PUC "Belgrade Waterworks and Kanalizacija" did not respond to BBC journalists' questions about the handling of burst asbestos pipes and whether additional water analyzes are carried out in such cases.
"When a pipe bursts, asbestos can come into contact with water and thus reach our faucets," says Ilijević.
"If the water in Belgrade was dangerous, we would have a cancer epidemic, but I definitely advise you to let as much water as possible run out if there was a shortage".
There are also filters for faucets and jugs, which are used to eliminate asbestos particles and other unhealthy substances from water, he points out.
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How is asbestos disposed of in Serbia?
"Vodovod" says that the waste generated by the replacement of asbestos pipes "is disposed of in accordance with the Law on Waste Management".
Asbestos disposal in Serbia is prescribed i Rulebook on handling waste containing asbestos.
Before disposal, the waste is treated to prevent the release of asbestos fibers and dust into the environment.
It is then disposed of in landfills, packed in visibly marked cassettes, specially intended for the disposal of asbestos waste.
"It is packaged in order to prevent contact with water and other gases, as well as to prevent asbestos particles from spreading," Ilijević explains.
Experts and environmental activists often appeal to remove the tailings of the former asbestos mine in Stragari near Kragujevac, calling it "a decades-long environmental problem".
Next to this, there was an asbestos mine Skating on Kopaonik, but both have been closed for a long time.
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Protests have been organized across the Balkans in recent years and criminal charges have been filed due to people's suspicions that they were exposed to improperly disposed asbestos.
One of the most famous cases is a settlement in New Belgrade where the tenants protested for years because the walls of the buildings were coated with asbestos.
In another part of Belgrade, on Beli voda, there was an 'Asbesto settlement', but the city authorities are solved the problem of tenants for years.
A resident of Beran, a city in the north of Montenegro, filed in July 2023 criminal charges due to, as she claimed, the burning of asbestos that was removed from the roof of the Clinical Hospital Center.
In Zadar, in Croatia, they are residents of the year 2020 they protested because during the disposal of as many as 78 tons of construction material containing asbestos, dust arose.
The material was allegedly unloaded from the legendary ship "Galeb", which Josip Broz Tito used for official trips.
The ship is send in Kraljevica, in the shipyard between Zadar and Rijeka, where it was converted into a museum.
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Which countries in the world have withdrawn asbestos from use?
All over the world, asbestos was used as a building material in the 1960s and 1970s.
As early as the 1980s, doubts arose that asbestos was harmful to health, and in 1989 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found evidence that asbestos was harmful to health and requested a ban on its use in this country.
USA, the third most populous country in the world, partially limited the use of asbestos only in March 2024.
Asbestos is still legal in most of the world, including in some of the most populous countries, such as China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Nigeria.
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Around a third of countries in the world have completely banned the use of asbestos.
Among them is Serbia, which has banned the use of asbestos in all products introduced 2011. years.
It has been in use since 2005 forbidden in all member countries of the European Union.
However, some countries where its use is banned still produce it, such as Brazil, which is the fourth largest producer of asbestos in the world.
Russia, where this material is legal, is the largest producer of asbestos on the world market.
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