Timetable for reducing hazardous pollution

BEIJING - The Ministry of Environmental Protection on Wednesday laid out a detailed timetable for Chinese cities to monitor the smallest and most hazardous airborne pollutant, known as PM2.5.

Such particulate matters - smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter - can travel into the lungs and damage people's respiratory systems. Currently, China measures air quality based on the larger pollutant PM10, which fails to gauge air quality accurately and has resulted in widespread public complaints in recent months.

"The new air quality standards - those including PM2.5, ozone and carbon monoxide - should be published as soon as possible," Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian told a national meeting on Wednesday.