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Volkswagen Denies Involvement in Animal Cruelty in Monkey Experiment

Following last week's revelation that it has commissioned experiments to be conducted on monkeys, German automaker Volkswagen issued a statement on Saturday, distancing itself from the practices used in the study aimed at showing how clean diesel fuel is.
Volkswagen blames individuals for Beetle monkey experiment 1 photo
Photo: VW
In a statement cited by Bloomberg, Volkswagen says it “explicitly distances itself from all forms of animal cruelty,” as “animal testing contradicts our own ethical standards." Although it doesn't deny the experiment per se, the German automaker blames it on those who have literally conducted it.

We apologize for the misconduct and the lack of judgment of individuals,” says Volkswagen. “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 2014 experiment, revealed during an ongoing lawsuit brought against Volkswagen in the United States and made public by The New York Times, consisted in 10 macaque monkeys being enclosed in special chambers and made to breathe exhaust from the pipes of a VW Beetle.

The goal was to compare the results of the Beetle emission to those of a 1999 Ford diesel pickup and debunk a World Health Organization report that claimed diesel exhaust is a carcinogen.

According to a statement in court by one of the scientists who carried out the experiment, Volkswagen rigged the Beetle used in such a way that nitrogen dioxide was only a fraction of what it usually is during normal driving.

The experiment has been commissioned by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector, a group that shut down last year and also included Daimler and BMW. Both have distanced themselves from VW's practices.

Daimler even went as far as declaring it will open an investigation into the experiment ordered by the group it was part of, while BMW only stated that it was in no way involved in the designing or the conducting of the research.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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