Britain has launched a first ever probe into health threats posed to passengers by contaminated air in planes after complaints of nausea and dizziness during and after flights. The investigation into health threats posed by air circulating in aircraft, announced by British aviation minister Jim Fitzpatrick, follows complaints from pilots and passengers of nausea, dizziness and other health problems during and after air travels. "We are filling a gap in world-wide knowledge because there are no published studies of air sampling during fume events anywhere, Fitzpatrick was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph of Britain on Thursday. "The only way we can resolve this matter is through top quality science," he said. In the study, which is being carried out by a team led by Professor Helen Muir, researchers will fly on 100 passenger and cargo aircraft to check for toxic air during flights. Though estimates of how many people are affected vary, the government Committee on Toxicity believes passengers on one in 2,000 flights could be exposed to toxins in cabin air. However, Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a clinical neuropsychologist at University College London, believes as many as 200,000 passengers a year could be affected by the so-called "dirty air", the report said. It said pilots had reported bad smells or what they believed was contaminated air on a number of aircraft including the Boeing 757, Airbus 319 and BAe 146. The problem is blamed on air from deep within the engines being used to pressurise the cabin. According to the British department for transport, there were 116 reports on contaminated air submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority in 2007. Hundreds of reports of fume incidents have also been filed by pilots across the world in recent years. A battery of complaints led to the establishment of the Committee on Toxicity. The Committee was told by the British Airline Pilots Association that some of its members were complaining of acute and chronic illnesses as a result of inhaling minute particles of engine oil and hydraulic fluid which had seeped into the air being pumped into the cabin, the report in the British daily said.