Chandigarh, September 05 An Indo-US joint workshop, the first of its kind, on the environmental risks of the respiratory diseases started here on Friday. The workshop is focussing on preparing a list of recommendations to be followed in the two countries to combat environment-related health hazards. Nearly 20 experts from top institutes of the USA, including the National Institute of Health (NIH), are participating in the workshop being organised by the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at PGI. Talking to Newsline, Head of Department Prof S K Jindal said it has been globally recognised that environmental factors, especially those at the living and the workplace, have important links with infectious as well as non-infectious diseases of both acute and chronic nature.