10 monkeys in gas chamber experienced VW diesel cheating firsthand
After years of the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal, The New York Times found out that ten monkeys were trapped in an airtight room in a laboratory and forced to breathe diesel fumes. It was part of a campaign by German automakers to hire scientists to do studies that might exonerate diesel as being environmentally safe. The American scientists who were conducting the test were not aware that the diesel-powered Beetle being used was equipped with one of VW’s infamous defeat devices, which allowed them to cheat on emissions tests.
Details of the experiment undertaken in Albuquerque in 2014 were spelled out in a lawsuit against Volkswagen in the United States, the Times reports. The ten cynomolgus macaque monkies, a type used extensively in medical experiments, were shown cartoons. Scientists piped in exhaust from the Beetle, which ran on a treadmill in a separate room. The study did not provide a clear finding.
