JACK EWING: ‘Three major German carmakers that financed the researchers who used monkeys to test the health effects of diesel exhaust struggled to contain harsh criticism from animal rights activists and a wave of negative media coverage after details of the tests emerged… The experiments — carried out in 2014… involved exposing a group of monkeys to exhaust from a late-model diesel Volkswagen, while another group was exposed to exhaust from an older Ford diesel pickup. After breathing diluted exhaust for four hours, the monkeys were examined and researchers took samples of lung tissue to check for inflammation. The research did not kill the monkeys, but it was unclear what happened to them afterward.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights group that claims 6.5 million supporters, wrote a letter to Volkswagen protesting what it said was the cruel mistreatment of the cynomolgus macaque monkeys used in the tests. “There is nothing fair about condemning these complex, sensitive animals to suffer physical suffering and psychological torment in laboratories where they are caged and deprived of fresh air, sunshine, freedom of movement, the companionship of others, and just about everything else that makes any life worth living,” Harald Ullmann, a PETA vice president, wrote in a letter dated Friday to Matthias Müller, the chief executive of Volkswagen’. SOURCE…
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