A number of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference members voiced their grave concern about soil pollution throughout the country in Beijing on Sunday.

China's environmental protection officials and more than 100 political advisors gather in a meeting to discuss concerns about soil pollution and proposals to prevent it during the third annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on March 8, 2015. [China.org.cn]

In the two-hour panel discussion and exchange on how to deal with soil pollution, more than 100 political advisors and representatives reached consensus to "strengthen the protection of farmland and provide high-quality and secure food for people."

"Heavy metal pollution in soil is so serious that it requires us to act immediately," Qian Xueming, a CPPCC member, said at the meeting.

Liu Xin, a CPPCC member and director of the Food and Health Engineering School of Sun Yat-sen University, said that 10 percent of the total farmland of China has heavy-metal-polluted soil and that "the heavy metal in soil will enter into humans' food chain through grain and agricultural products." He cautioned that, "We must guarantee an excellent ecological environment in order to provide high-quality and safe agricultural products."

Liu suggested that the nation strengthen legislation in the environmental protection sector and improve the details of the Environmental Protection Law.

CPPCC member and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Chen Zhangliang echoed Liu's ideas, saying, "Heavy metal pollution has a direct link with human cancers. It will be very hard to deal with the soil if it is tainted with heavy metal. I hope the government will take responsibility for people. I hope that the legislation will be completed soon and that pollution can be tackled as quickly as possible!"

"The CPPCC members' opinions, suggestions and proposals are very detailed and feasible, so they will prove very important and helpful for us in pushing forward our work," said Li Ganjie, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection, who attended the meeting.

"China's soil protection situation is in a very serious state of grave danger, and the outlook for agricultural pollution is very unoptimistic," Li added. He revealed that the laws, regulations and action plan to prevent soil pollution have already been drafted and expressed his hope that the regulations will be officially issued later this year.

Li said he hopes to curb the deteriorating trend of soil pollution in six or seven years.

The third session of the 12th National Committee of the CPPCC, the country's top political advisory body, is underway in Beijing. A total of 2,153 members of the CPPCC National Committee will discuss major issues concerning the country's development during the annual session, which runs through March 13.

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