Antidote to poisoning polluters

China will adopt powerful measures to tackle heavy metal poisoning following a recent string of lead poisoning incidents involving thousands of children in Shaanxi and Hunan provinces, a senior environmental protection official said yesterday.

"Pollution from heavy metals have become increasingly prominent, seriously endangering the health of local residents and resulting in adverse social impacts," Zhang Lijun, vice minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said in a joint conference with the National Development and Reform Commission on the country's efforts in reducing pollution and emissions.

Zhang said the problem needs to be tackled at the source, which is the heavily polluting plants that fail to meet environmental standards.