Beijing Vice-Mayor Lu Hao promised that authorities in the capital would ensure the security of toxic and hazardous chemicals during the 2008 Olympic Games.

Lu made these remarks at the Fifth Session of the 12th Beijing Municipal People's Congress over the weekend, according to a report by the Beijing News.

He said that over the past two years, authorities in Beijing had compiled a handbook on how to deal with possible accidents involving the capital's 254 toxic and hazardous chemical factories, transported chemicals and chemicals that are frequently used in daily life.

The handbook provides detailed explanations of what procedures, officials and materials should be involved in any response to accidents involving hazardous materials.

In response to the growing number of accidents involving toxic and hazardous chemicals in recent years, the authorities have tightened their management of such materials, for example, by requiring that they be registered.

The registration of new, dangerous, toxic or hazardous chemical substances is a necessary part of official efforts to protect the environment, Gao Yingxin, director of the State Environmental Protection Administration's (SEPA) Chemical Registration Center, said at a recent workshop.

Gao said registration would help the public understand that chemical substances could pose a threat to public safety, and help the environmental watchdog ensure that such materials are handled properly.

Citing the complexity of the process, Gao suggested that enterprises hire professional agencies to help them register chemicals.

Despite such measures, the possibility of an environmental catastrophe occurring at one of the country's chemical factories remains high.

The country's major waterways have been severely polluted by factories built along their banks, a source from SEPA said. A review of 127 major chemical and petrochemical projects found that many were located too close to major bodies of water.

Inspections of existing chemical facilities, prompted by an explosion in November 2005 that released tons of toxic chemicals in the Songhua River, found 20 with serious environmental safety problems.

(China Daily January 29, 2007)