German car-makers gassed people too

Germany's monkey-testing scandal is threatening to turn into a whirlpool after it was revealed a car-maker funded research group also gassed humans.

The European Research Association for Environment and Heath (EUGT) organised and paid for 25 "young and healthy" people to be gassed in airtight chambers at the University of Aachen for "several hours".

The EUGT was fully funded by the BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler, the embattled Volkswagen Group and key supplier Robert Bosch.

The German car-makers are attempting to distance themselves again from the latest revelations, with all three responding swiftly to the Aachen study, in which people were exposed to high levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), revealed in the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper.

German politicians have rounded on the three car-makers in the wake of the Aachen University test, with the President of Baden-Württemberg (where Daimler is based) Winfried Kretschmann insisting: "They contradict every ethical action."

Germany's science minister Theresia Bauer insisted it was "disgusting" that the monkey study was carried out "on behalf of German companies for PR purposes in the US.

"Such experimental arrangements with animals in Germany would not be able to be approved," she said. "German companies should accept the high standards of research and animal welfare here and do not flee into the laxer legislation of the United States."

Baden-Württemberg's Minister for Economic Affairs, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut, told Stuttgarter Zeitung: "The studies on the effect of nitrogen dioxide on monkeys and humans of the EUGT are unacceptable.

"This again throws a bad picture on the participating vehicle manufacturers. Such an approach certainly will not help restore confidence in the industry.

"It also does not contribute to solving our air pollution problems in cities. The industry should better focus its commitment on sustainable low-emission technologies. "

In a statement, Daimler condemned the research "in the strongest terms", insisting the EUGT approach "contradicts our values and ethical principles".

Neither the monkey test nor the Aachen test revealed anything of use to the companies involved, with the monkey test being so pointless no report or conclusion was ever released.

According to the director of the study, the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute was contracted to conduct the study, which saw monkeys gassed for four hours by EUGT under Volkswagen Group responsibility.

Aachen University director Thomas Krause told the newspaper that the study didn't reveal anything meaningful, largely because nitrogen dioxide only accounted for a small portion of all urban air pollution. None of the test subjects reported suffering ill effects from the test.

The report was published in 2016, with the carmakers closing down the EUGT project in June 2017.

The EUGT was formed largely in response to the World Health Organisation's slashing the recommended maximum exposure to NOx by two-thirds and declaring the gas a carcinogen.

NOx is the critical diesel combustion byproduct that was at the heart of the Volkswagen Dieselgate emissions-cheating scandal.

The EUGT's organisation and funding of a New Mexico test, in which 10 cartoon-watching monkeys were breathing emissions from a Dieselgate-cheater Volkswagen Beetle, was uncovered by Netflix documentary Dirty Money on Sunday.

Both controversial studies were clearly arranged to counter possible negative publicity to their diesel engines in the wake of the WHO findings, and seem to come from the same desperation to clean up diesel's image as VW's Dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.

A petition urging Volkswagen to donate to an organisation that rescues research animals and asking it to never use animals in research again has attracted more than 33,000 signatures.

"These monkeys were forced to inhale dangerous diesel exhaust for four hours for no reason, and Care2 members firmly believe Volkswagen needs to take responsibility for this sickening experiment," said Rebecca Gerber, Senior Director of Engagement at Care2.

"Care2 wants to see Volkswagen issue a formal policy committing to end animal research. The company should also put its money where its mouth is and make a donation to improve the lives of research animals right now."