German carmakers allegedly funded exhaust gas tests using monkeys and human beings as guinea pigs, according to the New York Times and several German sources.
A new scandal hangs in the air, as toxic as the exhaust gases that people and monkeys were allegedly made to inhale, following the controversial story known as dieselgate. According to a German source, the Stuttgarter Zeitung, a body set up specifically by several German carmakers allegedly funded research into the effects of exhaust gases using human beings as guinea pigs. Specifically, it appears that the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (Eugt) – founded by Bmw, Daimler and Volkswagen – carried out tests on 25 young, healthy individuals, examined after "having inhaled nitrogen dioxide at various concentrations and for several hours", in the laboratories of the University of Aachen, in Germany. The research was published on 7 May 2016 in the journal International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health.
The news comes just hours after the investigation published by the New York Times, which reports that in 2014, shortly after the rigged emissions scandal, the carmakers directly funded another study to test the effects of exhaust gases in laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this time on monkeys. The tests allegedly used a New Beetle to demonstrate that the newer models were "cleaner" than their predecessors. According to the American source, the research was intended to apply pressure and thereby influence the political debate in favour of diesel engines.
Chancellor Angela Merkel took a firm stance, announcing through her spokesperson that tests on animals "and even on people are ethically unjustifiable, and the outrage felt by so many people is entirely understandable". Volkswagen chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch also stated that the tests were "incomprehensible" and that those responsible "will be held to account". The Volkswagen supervisory board is calling for an inquiry. According to the Stuttgarter Zeitung: "Daimler does not support or tolerate any unethical treatment of animals" and is distancing itself from the study, which it describes as "superfluous and repugnant". Bmw, meanwhile, commented that the group did not conduct experiments on animals and did not take part in the study.
According to a recent study conducted by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the international institute Iiasa (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis), at least 425,000 deaths per year are attributable to air pollution across the 28 countries of the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland. Slightly fewer than 10,000 of those deaths are attributable to nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel engines, and of these, 4,560 are linked to excess emissions beyond the limits declared by vehicle manufacturers. Italy has the unfortunate distinction of recording the highest number of premature deaths attributable to fine particulate matter generated by diesel vehicles: 2,810 deaths per year, of which 1,250 are linked to the surplus emissions compared with what carmakers certified in laboratory tests.