Recent weather made the city's footpaths so slippery that city authorities even called on the elderly to refrain from going out alone - but still the casualties quickly added up.

In conditions where a pair of skates would be the most suitable footwear, hundreds of Muscovites have suffered broken bones, dislocations, sprains and other injuries, peaking with 340 casualties on January 14-15 alone.

Last week, city and state authorities addressed Muscovites' concerns about the slippery state of the city's footpaths and the problems resulting from the use of reagents, or deicing chemicals.  

Andrei Tsybin, head of the city's housing and public utilities department, said that if Muscovites were unhappy with the walking conditions on the capital's footpaths, they should use the appropriate hotline to contact the housing and public utilities department, prefecture and council, RIA Novosti reported. "The more information we have, the easier it will be for the department to work," said Tsybin.

Clearing ice and snow continued around the clock, said Tsybin, adding that there were regulations governing such work, including that footpaths must only be treated using ground-up granite fragments, which he described as "a very safe technology".

"Given the current conditions I consider the state of the city's footpaths this winter as satisfactory," Tsybin said.

The use of chemical reagents has been blamed for damaging footwear and harming dogs' feet, and its use on Moscow's footpaths has been banned since 2006. Mayor Yury Luzh­kov announced last week that street cleaners would be fired if they used chemical reagents intended for roadways on footpaths and in courtyards.

However, first deputy mayor Pyotr Biryukov told TVTs television last week that recent weather conditions had led to the ban being lifted.

"The weather has been testing us," he said. "On Jan. 12 and during the last few days we have been forced to use solid reagents - it would not have been possible to clean the footpaths otherwise."

Biryukov said that Muscovites' four-legged friends would not fall foul of the reagents' effects and that specialists had proven over and over that reagents were not detrimental to animals. "You need to take care of your dogs, not let them run along the roadway, and look after their paws," he said.

Oleg Mitvol, the deputy head of the Federal Inspection Service for Natural Resources Use, disagreed with Biryukov, saying that there had been cases of the reagents harming dogs. "Worst of all, is that there is yet to be any analysis concerning the reagents' effects on peoples' lungs," Mitvol said.

Meanwhile, Mos­cow's state public health deputy head doctor, Sergei Fokin, said that over the last two years, only three complaints were re­ceived concerning shoe damage caused by street cleaning rea­gents, RIA Novosti reported.

"In two cases the claimants resolved the problem themselves and the third was found to be a manufacturer's defect," said Fokin, adding that if reagents were responsible for causing harm to citizens, they should contact their local department of the Consumer Rights Protection Service in Moscow.

Mitvol advised Muscovites to buy quality boots and the Moscow authorities to follow the mayor's instructions to use less reagents.

Luzhkov recently authorized the start of tests with heated reagent solutions, which allow for 70 per cent less to be used.