BEIJING - China is "seriously dealing with" hazardous waste that threatens the environment after several illegal dumping and transferring of abandoned heavy metals, a senior environmental official said Thursday.

Treating hazardous waste will become a priority of China's pollution prevention work over the next five years, Vice Minister of Environmental Protection Zhang Lijun said during a national teleconference.

"Efforts should me made to curb the rising amount of pollution caused by hazardous waste," said Zhang, adding that hazardous waste has "seriously threatened environmental safety and damaged people's health."

Citing a recent incident in southwestern Yunnan Province's city of Qujing in which chromium residues was illegally dumped, Zhang said it had an "extremely bad environmental impact."

Measures preventing such incidents include strict examination and approval of new projects, and special attention should be paid to new projects that involve utilization or disposal of hazardous waste, Zhang said.

Construction projects in China must undergo environmental impact evaluations by local environmental protection bureaus both before the start and after the completion of the projects.