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Volkswagen Admits To Testing Diesel Fumes On Monkeys (cnet.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the poor-business-decisions dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNET: In what seems like a John Henry versus the steam shovel-style competition to dig diesel's grave, Volkswagen has admitted to funding (and subsequently cheating on) animal testing to prove the relative safety of diesel exhaust fumes, according to findings by the New York Times. The tests, which were undertaken at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque in 2014, involved as many as 10 monkeys and had them sitting in airtight containers as they breathed exhaust fumes from a diesel-powered Volkswagen Beetle while they watched cartoons for entertainment. The tests went on for 4 hours. "We apologize for the misconduct and the lack of judgment of individuals," said a Volkswagen representative in a statement. "We're convinced the scientific methods chosen then were wrong. It would have been better to do without such a study in the first place." The Volkswagen Beetle used in the test was equipped with the same compromised emissions software that could detect when the car was being tested in a lab environment so it was running as cleanly as it could, which I guess proves that Volkswagen will waste no opportunity to be hoisted by its own oil-burning petard.

7 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Re:OK...and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They did. I don't know why that's not the news here.

  2. They did test it on humans by klingens · · Score: 5, Informative

    They did test it on 25 humans in university clinic of Aachen https://www.theguardian.com/bu...

    Also the usual /. headline is as usual: crap. EUGT did all this, which is a lobby organisation by BMW, Mercedes and VW. They all are responsible, not just VW alone.

  3. Correct link by Powercntrl · · Score: 4, Informative

    VW condemned for testing diesel fumes on humans and monkeys

    That's what the preview button is there for...

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    DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
  4. Re:OK...and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    Before modding this down, google the history of volkswagen. It was founded in 1937 by the DAF (a Nazi group) and Hitler.

  5. On the upside by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The monkeys wrote three new Avengers movies while they were in the chamber, and Michael Bay just hired them to write a new Transformers sequel.

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    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  6. Re: OK...and... by mspohr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since you don't seem to be able to use the Google, I'll get you started,.
    https://phys.org/news/2015-09-...
    https://www.epa.gov/no2-pollut...
    http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/1...

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    I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
  7. Re:OK...and... by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not necessarily. If the car is burning hydrogen, inhaling the exhaust is just going to make you damp.

    NOx is produced by the combination of atmospheric nitrogen (N2) with atmospheric oxygen (O2) at high temperatures. So yes, in fact, an engine which burns hydrogen will produce NOx. NOx production is not an inherent property of the fuel, just the combustion temperature. This is why diesel engines have a greater problem with NOx emissions than gasoline engines - they burn more efficiently, but that higher efficiency means higher temperatures, which means more NOx produced.

    Hydrogen fuel cells do not produce NOx because they combine the hydrogen fuel with atmospheric oxygen electrochemically, instead of via combustion.