Photo: DPAPollution from 2.6 million Volkswagen cars sold in Germany between 2008 and 2015, manipulated to seem less polluting than they were, will cause 1,200 premature deaths in Europe, a study into the health impacts of the fraud said Friday. The same team of researchers had previously estimated that excess emissions from 482,000 Volkswagens sold in the United States 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. In Germany, 2.6 million Volkswagens were sold under the brands VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat, said the researchers.

Source: The Local March 03, 2017 10:52 UTC