FRANKFURT: German car makers came under fire, following revelations that they helped finance human and monkey experimentation by exposing them to toxic diesel fumes that have been linked to asthma, lung diseases, and heart attacks.
The disclosures sparked widespread outrage, led by Chancellor Angela Merkel who strongly condemned the latest controversy to engulf the nation’s powerful but scandal-tainted auto industry.
“These tests on monkeys or even humans are in no way ethically justified,” said Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert. “The indignation felt by many people is completely understandable.”
The local newspapers reported that a research group funded by Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW had measured the effects of inhaling nitrogen oxide gases on 25 healthy human beings at a German university hospital.
The revelation came just days after The New York Times wrote that the same organisation carried out tests on monkeys in the United States in 2014.
According to the NYT article, the researchers locked 10 monkeys into airtight chambers and made them breathe in diesel exhausts from a VW Beetle while watching cartoons.
Volkswagen apologised for the animal testing at the weekend, saying the group “distances itself clearly from all forms of animal abuse.”
Update: Following contact by PETA, @VW apologizes for cruel monkey inhalation test, promises never to repeat. They must permanently ban all experiments on animals! https://t.co/RaRVX5YQEu
— PETA (@peta) January 29, 2018
The German government had called a special meeting with the affected car companies for an explanation, said acting transport minister Christian Schmidt. “This has once again damaged trust in the auto industry,” he said.
It was VW’s admission in 2015 to having manipulated 11 million diesel cars with cheating software to make them seem less polluting than they were that brought close scrutiny to the industry, which had long touted diesel as better for the environment than gasoline-powered engines.
Several German cities grappling with air pollution are now mulling diesel bans.
