VW Chief Lobbyist Suspended Over Emission Tests on Monkeys

Germany’s scandal-hit auto giant Volkswagen has suspended its chief lobbyist Thomas Steg as outrage mounted over monkey and human experiments to study the effects of diesel exhaust fumes. CEO Matthias Mueller said VW had “taken first consequences” from the tests on monkeys and put on leave Steg, the general representative for external relations and government affairs, who had “taken full responsibility”, Euractiv reported. The New York Times reported last week that US researchers in 2014 locked 10 monkeys into airtight chambers and made them breathe in diesel exhaust from a VW Beetle while the animals were watching TV cartoons. Separately, it emerged that a research group funded by VW, Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW had ordered a study in Germany measuring the effects of inhaling nitrogen dioxide on 25 human volunteers. Mueller on Monday labeled the animal testing “wrong … unethical and repulsive”, reported Spiegel Online. And Steg had vowed in the Bild daily that “what happened should never have happened, I regret it very much”. The German government has called a special meeting with the affected car companies to ask them to explain themselves.