BEIJING, China (AFP) – China vowed Sunday to crack down on heavy metal polluters after officials confirmed that a new major lead poisoning outbreak had left 121 children with excessive levels of the metal in their blood.

Zhang Lijun, vice minister for environmental protection, told a news conference in Beijing that the government would identify and shut down polluters responsible for such outbreaks across the country.

“Before the end of the year, nine ministries and State Council commissions will launch a crackdown on illegal polluters to protect people’s health,” Zhang said.

“The government is going to launch special inspections of enterprises responsible for heavy metal emissions.”

Officials in Shanghang county in south-east Fujian province confirmed 121 children were found to be suffering from lead poisoning between September 15 and 20, the official Xinhua news agency reported Sunday.

Parents blamed the pollution on emissions from a local battery factory.

Hundreds of people protested in mid-September in front of the Shanghang county government offices and blocked a local highway for hours after an initial four children were found to have excessive lead in their blood.

The situation in Shanghang follows two similar incidents in August – in northern Shaanxi and in central Hunan province – which saw a total of more than 2,100 children test positive for high lead levels.

Pollution-related health scares are common in China, where an emphasis on economic growth over the past three decades has lead to widespread disregard for environmental protection.