THE Ministry of Science and Technology has started planning for a five-year air pollution prevention and control project, the ministry announced yesterday.

    A draft blueprint for the project has been published on the ministry’s website and the ministry is soliciting public comment.

    According to the draft, the focus of air-pollution control in China should be shifted from simply responding to heavy smog to a coordinated scheme to prevent both PM2.5, or airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter, and ozone (O3).

    Air pollution monitoring and management practices will be shifted from the city level to a regional scale, the draft said.

    Authorities will promote joint scientific and technological research and sharing of achievements to support air pollution control efforts, the document said. The research will focus on the cause and spread of pollution, its impact on health, monitoring and warning systems, as well as pollution management and air quality improvement technology and strategy.

    The research will also help promote the diagnosis and prevention of pollution-related diseases, the draft added.

    According to the draft, the project will be carried out starting this year until 2020.

    The ministry said it will improve the plan after listening to opinions from government departments and experts.

    Since “Under the Dome,” Chinese journalist Chai Jing’s documentary about pollution, was released online Saturday, the film has been viewed more than 150 million times and has sparked a national debate on environmental problems.

    China’s environment minister, Chen Jining, drew parallels between the film and “Silent Spring,” the ground-breaking book by American journalist Rachel Carson in 1962 that spurred the development of the U.S. environmental movement.

    In another development, the revised environmental protection law showed its teeth in its first two months, with more than 350 polluters receiving severe punishments, the national environmental watchdog said Monday.

    In the first two months of the year, 15 polluting companies were hit with daily fines, the largest one paying a total of 1.9 million yuan (US$303,000). The total paid by the 15 reached 7.23 million yuan, according to Pan Yue, the deputy minister of environmental protection, Monday.

    (SD-Xinhua)