Pollution from rigged German Volkswagens to kill 1,200

(study)

Editor Meng Yaping

Pollution from 2.6 million Volkswagen cars sold in Germany between 2008 and 2015, rigged to appear eco-friendly, will cause 1,200 premature deaths in Europe, a study of the fraud's health impacts said Friday. 

"The researchers estimate that 1,200 people in Europe will die early, each losing as much as a decade of their life, as a result of excess emissions generated," said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which took part in the study. 

This corresponded to about 1.9 billion euros (2 billion US dollars) in health costs and lost labor productivity, the paper said. Germany will account for about 500 lives lost, only 40 percent of the projected European toll, according to findings published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. 

A Germany national flag flies in the wind in front of a VW badge on Volkswagen AG automobile factory in Wolfsburg, Germany. /CFP Photo

Poland is in second place with 160 deaths, followed by France with 84, the Czech Republic with 72, Italy 55, Austria 47, Switzerland 40, Hungary 32, Britain 30 and Romania 27. 

The same researchers had previously estimated that excess emissions from 482,000 Volkswagens sold in the United States in the same period would cause 60 premature American deaths. 

Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to having installed software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide to circumvent emissions tests. This was to make the cars seem compliant with pollution limits while in fact they were emitting health-harming pollutants. 

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller attends a news conference at their headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany, April 22, 2016. /CFP Photo

If Volkswagen were to recall and retrofit all affected German-sold vehicles by the end of 2017, "this would avert 2,600 additional premature deaths and 4.1 billion euros in corresponding health costs," the study authors said. In 2012, the World Health Organization's cancer research agency classified diesel engine exhaust as cancer-causing. 

The European Environment Agency estimates that more than 400,000 people die prematurely every year due to outdoor air pollution in urban Europe -- about half of it from traffic emissions. Volkswagen's rigged cars emitted NOx at levels that were on average four times the European limit, said the MIT statement. 

(Source: AFP)