VW faces inquiry call over diesel fumes test on monkeys

Source: Reuters

#BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 29, 2018 / 4:31 AM / UPDATED 33 MINUTES AGO

VW faces inquiry call over diesel fumes test on monkeys

Jan Schwartz, Edward Taylor
4 MIN READ

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen’s (VOWG_p.DE) supervisory board called for an immediate inquiry into who commissioned tests in which monkeys were exposed to toxic diesel fumes, while the German government said such studies were unjustifiable.

“I will do everything possible to ensure that this matter is investigated in detail,” Volkswagen supervisory board Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said in a statement on Monday.

“Whoever is responsible for this must of course be held accountable,” Poetsch said in response to a New York Times report on Friday that German carmakers had used an organization called European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector (EUGT) to commission the tests.

The study, conducted in 2014, was designed to defend diesel following revelations that the fuel’s exhaust fumes were carcinogenic, the newspaper reported.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-monkey/vw-faces-inquiry-call-over-diesel-fumes-test-on-monkeys-idUSKBN1FI0VR

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Source: Reuters

#BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 29, 2018 / 6:15 AM / UPDATED 33 MINUTES AGO

Germany says emissions tests on monkeys, people are unjustifiable

Reuters Staff
1 MIN READ

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government on Monday dismissed as unjustifiable any auto emissions testing on monkeys or people.

German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung reported at the weekend that a research organization funded by German carmakers sponsored scientific experiments testing nitrogen dioxide, a gas found in exhaust fumes, on people.

Separately, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) have condemned emissions experiments involving monkeys.

“These tests on monkeys or even people are in no ethical way justifiable and raise many critical questions about those who are behind the tests,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference in Berlin.

“The supervisory bodies of those who issued these contracts have a special responsibility,” he added.

Reporting by Joseph Nasr and Tom Koerkemeier; Writing by Paul Carrel

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-monkey-germany/germany-says-emissions-tests-on-monkeys-people-are-unjustifiable-idUSKBN1FI17R