German carmakers test toxic fumes on human subjects
The German government has reported that experiments funded by German carmakers have been used to test potentially dangerous exhaust fumes on humans and monkeys.
EUGT, a research group funded by Volkswagen, Daimler and BMW, exposed human test subjects to the chemicals for hours at a time to prove that they were not carcinogenic between 2012 and 2015.
The government stated that such tests could not be justified, with a minister calling them ‘abominable’.
EUGT was dissolved by the carmakers last year. The initials stand for European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector.
‘These tests on monkeys or even humans cannot be justified ethically in any way,’ said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
At the time the carmakers were arguing that modern technology had cut pollution from diesel engines to safe levels. However, VW was later found to have fitted devices to cheat the emissions data.
