China pollution suppression drug target (AP)

SHANGHAI - waste Foul issued by one of the largest manufacturers of drugs China are become the latest target in a growing campaign to crack down on the country serious pollution problems.

Harbin in the North China pharmaceutical group, said Thursday that it is rushing to upgrade its equipment and reduce releases of its critical antibiotics after intense drawing plants in the national media for a stench residents have been complaining about years.

China has been stepping up efforts to close or clean heavily polluting industries which have left many communities contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants.

Reports by the State national television and major newspapers said the gas hydrogen sulfide levels near Harbin pharmaceutical plants were found to be more than 1,000 times the legal limit, while the levels of ammonia were 20 times the allowed limit.

Due largely chemicals the fermentation process used to manufacture penicillin, they said.

Exposure of hydrogen sulphide, that smell of eggs rotten and is also known as the swamp gas, can be fatal in high concentrations. It causes irritation of the skin and lower concentrations of respiratory problems and is highly flammable.

"There is no excuse for such emissions of waste and there is no advantage to escape responsibility," the newspaper of the Communist Party of people every day, said in a sharply worded comment that took local authorities to task for failing to curb the problems when they resurfaced in 2004.

Representatives of the Harbin city government refused to comment on the situation.

The barrage of criticism for what local media have dubbed "door pollution" followed reports earlier this week that authorities investigating a chemical plant which discharges of certain toxic substances 10 accused of alteration of water to parts of Hangzhou, a city of 9 million people to the West of Shanghai.

Harbin pharmaceutical issued a notice Thursday to the stock market of Shanghai acknowledging the complaints and confirming it was cutting production in some of its facilities while it solves problems.

The company said that he had invested 400 million Yuan (approximately $ 62 million) in clean technologies and pollution control equipment. The results of its last sampling of the affected areas, conducted this week, were not yet available, he said.

The company, which employs more than 20,000 people, said that it will to gaps in the production of penicillin and cephalosporin with purchases of other drug manufacturers.

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Minister: China needs to intensify the nuclear oversight (AP)

BEIJING - China must increase the monitoring of its nuclear plants after the disaster of the Japan, a senior Chinese official said Friday, as the country advance an ambitious program to build more reactors.

The crisis caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit the bare Japan "a multitude of problems" with how nuclear energy is managed, Vice Minister of the environment Li Ganjie said.

"Some of them are technical, some are at a hierarchical level, some are inevitable caused by natural disasters, while some are caused by anthropogenic factors and can be prevented," Li said at a press conference.

China must raise industry security standards, to make information more accessible and to establish a strong team of independent regulators to oversee nuclear safety, he said.

Department of Environmental Protection of IA oversees the nuclear industry of China with the most powerful National Development Reform Commission, which promotes nuclear power as important to the energy security of the country.

Even before the Japanese crisis, Li Department had urged the Government to more funds to monitor the growing nuclear industry.

China has 13 reactors in commercial operation, 26 in construction and another 52 expected, according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group. While the Government ordered audits of security quickly after the start of the Japanese factory leaking radiation, China did not significantly alter its plans for nuclear energy growth.

China argues that the expansion of nuclear power plants is necessary to feed a hungry energy economy that is essentially dependent on coal.

In the vast press conference, Li touched on to other environmental issues, including pollution, heavy metals, which has affected thousands of Chinese children living near the metal smelters or battery plants in ces in recent years.

China grand challenges in the prevention of pollution of heavy metals, but would "investigate all industries lead battery and try to stop this trend of frequent accidents, Li has."

Combined with the scandals on milk and contaminated food, heavy-metal pollution has taken on urgency for heads of Government which promised to deliver a more sustainable economic growth, focusing on people.

Li also spoke about the recent protests in the region rich in resources of the internal Mongolia, which were triggered in part by anger on the destruction of the Prairies by mining companies.

Protests erupted last month after two Mongolian herdsmen were killed in an attempt to block the transport of coal and mining operations.

Li said: "if it is confirmed that the undertakings concerned have broken laws and regulations that led to these incidents, I think that Governments of and protection of the environment agencies hold these responsible companies".

Also Friday, authorities in Inner Mongolia ordered the restructuring of the industry of rare earth in the region to make it more sustainable, State media, said.

Belonging to the State of Baogang group will become the sole producer of rare earth in the region after four rare earth producers are merged into it and 31 others are closed, the regional economy and the Office of information technology said, according to Xinhua News Agency.

China has been limiting exports of rare earth, ostensibly to clean up the environment. But business partners are speculating that it is to favor domestic industries and the drive to the increase in world prices.

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Environment of China poses "challenges": official (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) - China admitted it faced "difficulties and challenges" to clean up its environment, with pollution by toxic metals, aggravating the public and a severe drought further damage waterways.

Vice Minister of the environment Li Ganjie Friday reiterated a Government pledge to punish mining, recognized companies convicted of environmental offences in Mongolia-domestic, where protests fueled by concerns about the practices of the mining industry has erupted last month.

China's "overall environmental situation is still very serious and is facing many challenges and difficulties," Li said to journalists that his Department issued its annual report before world environment day, Sunday.

To clean up badly polluted waterways, reducing industrial pollutants, reduce the degradation of the rural land and a better balance between economic growth and environmental protection, the nation was quickly, he said.

"We are entered in a period where the sudden incidents affecting the environment or pollution accidents are frequently produce and where pollution of the environment is causing daily social contradictions,"Li said."".

Demonstrations erupted in Inner Mongolia last month after a Mongolian farmer was killed by a Chinese coal truck driver Han, may 10, but protesters also require action on the operating expenses of resources and damage to the environment.

China quickly strengthened security in the region of the North and announced a redesign of an accused to mining to encroach on the Prairie where the Mongolian herdsmen have raised animals for centuries.

"If we confirm that business relevant (mining) have violated the laws and regulations, I think that our local government and environment protection agencies will be severely punish", said Li.

Also promised to crack down on heavy metal pollution from mines and other factories, recognizing that incidents of lead poisoning - sometimes whole villages - were occurring at the national level.

"The incidents of pollution of heavy metals which are seriously endangering the health of the population and affecting social stability are quite severe", said Li.

Last year, China has been witness of 14 incidents of major pollution of heavy metals, including nine involving lead poisoning, said Li. In the first five months of 2011, seven of these incidents occurred.

The drought affecting the reaches and lower Yangtze, longest waterway of China, was exacerbating pollution in lakes and tributaries in the basin of the River, of which many were already seriously polluted, he said.

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China says deals with pollution in Inner Mongolia (AP)

BEIJING - a Chinese official said that the Government and local organizations focus on pollution problems that sparked clashes leading to a wave of ethnic protests through the Inner Mongolia.

The events of last month following the assassination of two Mongolians seeking to block mining operations and the transportation of coal that people complained about the Prairies of damage and cause pollution.

Vice Minister of the environment Li Ganjie said Friday that "the situation has abated and I am satisfied that the relevant issues will be reviewed".

He said he believes that local governments and agencies for the protection of the environment will be empowering companies that break laws and regulations.

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China to intensify the fight against drug addiction in plastic (AFP)

BEIJING (AFP) - China will expand a ban on bags free supplies, State media, said, it tries to further curb his addiction to plastic to rid the country of the "white pollution" which obstructs the waterways, farms and fields.

Libraries and pharmacies across the country will soon be prohibited from giving free plastic bags, join the ranks of the supermarkets have been in charge for bags in shopping since June 1, 2008, the official news agency Xinhua reported.

That day, China also prohibited the production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags, becoming one of only a few nations worldwide to take such measures difficult.

Citing Zhao Jiarong, Secretary General of the National development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Planner high economic of China, the report said that the Government would also intensify its crackdown on the illegal use of plastic bags.

But it did not say when the libraries and pharmacies would start charging for bags, they give to.

China - the most largest greenhouse gas emitter - has some of the worst water and air pollution in the world after rapid growth for more than 30 years has triggered environmental damage.

Nearly three billion plastic bags are used daily in China before the 2008 ban. Since then, according to the NDRC, people have used at least 24 billion plastic bags less each year, the report said late Saturday.

Dong Jinshi, vice President of the International Association of food packaging in Beijing, said the AFP late last year that plastic, up to 100 billion shopping bags have been kept out of landfills by law.

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Pattern of China battery plant in probe poison of lead (AP)

SHANGHAI - State media say that the pattern of a factory farm in Eastern China was detained after more than 300 people have been disgusted by pollution by lead.

The official Xinhua News Agency said that 99 children were among those with high concentrations of lead in blood and that 53 people have been hospitalized.

It said the factory boss was arrested Monday and eight local representatives have been studied on the lax supervision after that the authorities discovered that the Zhejiang Haijiu battery Co. improperly disposed waste lead.

The plant is located in Deqing, a rural area west of Shanghai.

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