Heat on car makers

Humans, monkeys exposed to diesel fumes in experiments

PUBLIC criticism of the German auto industry has escalated on reports that diesel exhaust tests were carried out on both monkeys and humans.

The tests were reportedly carried out by a research group funded by major German auto companies. The German government on Monday condemned the experiments and Volkswagen sought to distance itself from them, with its chairman saying that “in the name of the whole board I emphatically disavow such practices.”

Revelations of the tests add a twist to the German auto industry’s attempt to move past Volkswagen’s scandal over cheating on diesel tests and the resulting questioning of diesel technology across the industry.

Volkswagen Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said the tests must be “investigated completely and without reservation,” the dpa news agency reported. A report by The New York Times found the research group financed by top German car makers commissioned experiments in which one group of monkeys was exposed to diesel exhaust from a late-model Volkswagen, while another group was exposed to fumes from an older Ford pick-up.

Daimler AG said it was “appalled by the nature and extent of the studies”.

BMW said that it “did not participate in the mentioned study” on animals “and distances itself from this study.”

The Times report said the group that commissioned the studies, known by German initial EUGT, got all of its funding from the three automakers.

The Stuttgarter Zeitung daily reported on Monday the now-closed research group also commissioned tests in which humans were exposed to nitrogen dioxide.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that “the disgust many people are feeling is absolutely understandable.” “These tests on monkeys or even humans can in no way be ethically justified,” Seibert said. “They raise many critical questions.”