Harsh Vardhan denies statement on pollution

NEW DELHI, June 22: Delhi Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has denied that he had ever suggested that the pollution was not a health hazard. He was reacting to a particularly strong statement issued by an environment group against his purported observations on pollution and health.

8220;All I tried to say was that the report prepared by the specialists at the Centre of Occupational and Environmental Medicine of the Maulana Azad Medical College did not find a significant difference in asthma prevalence in urban and rural populations. Therefore, an association between asthma and vehicular pollution appears less likely,8221; he maintained today.