Beijing medical authorities announced on Thursday that they will launch a campaign to kill rats and present a clean environment for the Olympics, which opens on August 8.

Deng Xiaohong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, said the campaign to clean rats, to start on February 26, will target Olympic venues, training facilities and areas within a 1,000-meter radius.

Rat poisons will also be placed in Olympic-dedicated hospitals, hotels and restaurants. The poisons will also be distributed at non-Olympic areas, including apartment areas, underground pipelines, farm produce markets, food processors and fowl breeders, where rats are likely to be found.

"Beijing health workers will send teams to inspect the rats-killing work, and will impose fines on those who failed their job," Deng said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)