Volkswagen, the world’s biggest carmaker, is under fire globally from politicians and environmentalists following revelations it helped to fund experiments in which monkeys and humans breathed in car fumes for hours at a time.
The company has already pleaded guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges in the US and paid $26billion (£17billion) in fines, following the diesel emissions scandal.
A New York Times article first alleged that a think tank co-funded by VW carried out a test in 2014 on 10 caged monkeys, in an attempt to prove that a Volkswagen Beetle vehicle was safe.
Further allegations over the weekend argue that tests were also carried out on humans. As part of the study, 25 people were exposed to varying levels of nitrogen dioxide for three hours to investigate the possible health effects of the chemical compound in concentrations below the limit for workplaces.
The German Government said such tests could not be justified and called for answers.
THEY APOLOGIZED
“I will do everything possible to ensure that this matter is investigated in detail” Volkswagen supervisory board chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch said in a statement. “Whoever is responsible for this must of course be held accountable.”