It is a position the automo bile lobby will fiercely contest but Nadadur said, "My under standing is that most of the emissions are from transport Hence the (supreme) court rul ing about moving the trucks out (of Delhi)." He added that India needs a regulatory agency "like the US Environment Protection Agency".

Nadadur said on Wednesday that a community of scientists from India and the US is being formed to plan for integrated air pollution and health research in India. He was sent to India fol lowing an agreement for bilater al cooperation on air pollution research during US President Barack Obama's January visit.The objective of his assignment was to make a collaborative effort with Government of India to see "if science can drive policy".

Nadadur, who is also the programme director of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the US, met scientists from Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) institutions like the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology , Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Chest Research Foundation in Pune, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, besides IIT Delhi, etc.Noted scientists and doctors like AIIMS pulmonologist Randeep Guleria and IIT professor Manju Mohan will be part of the scientists' consortium.

The project will cover public health, exposure assessment and training. Indian institutions have re searched the health impacts of air pollution in a piecemeal way without looking into its link with diseases, Nadadur said."There is some basic research with animal model studies but population studies are needed.There are lots of studies on mortality (death rate) due to air pollution but not morbidity (disease). We need to know how air pollution is exacerbating existing health conditions," he said.