It became known that Volkswagen Group has been cheating with
fraudulent emission tests for diesel engines over the last six years, resulting
in on-road emissions vastly exceeding legal standards for nitrogen oxides in
Europe and the United States.
Volkswagen has been labelled responsible for the loss of
over 45,000 healthy years of European lives, in a study by Dutch researchers. Researchers
warn that the total could rise to 72,000 years if the affected vehicles aren't
recalled. The study, 'Valuing the human health damage caused by the fraud of
Volkswagen', is published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
From 2009 to 2015, approximately nine million fraudulent
Volkswagen cars, as sold in Europe and the US, emitted a cumulative amount of
526 ktonnes of nitrogen oxides more than was legally allowed. These fraudulent
emissions are associated with 45 thousand disability-adjusted life years
(DALYs) and a value of life lost of at least 39 billion US dollars, which is
approximately 5.3 times larger than the 7.3 billion US dollars that Volkswagen
Group has set aside to cover worldwide costs related to the diesel emissions
scandal.
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