Danger of death from nitrogen oxides Tens of thousands of avoidable fatalities annually due to diesel exhaust

Annually around 38,000 deaths due to failure to comply with emission limits for diesel engines
Every year, more than 100,000 people worldwide die of nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust. Tens of thousands of deaths could be avoided if the prescribed thresholds were met. However, as the VW exhaust gas scandal has shown, much is cheated in this area.

Fine dust pollution represents a high health hazard
It has long been known that pollution of the environment is associated with a high health risk. Only last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that air pollution causes more and more deaths worldwide. Even small amounts of fine dust can be dangerous. Among other things, the tiny particles can damage the respiratory tract, aggravate lung diseases such as asthma and smoker's lungs, or even cause a heart attack or stroke. The auto industry contributes significantly to global air pollution.

Researchers have calculated that tens of thousands of people die worldwide every year because diesel vehicles do not comply with statutory emissions limits. The EU is particularly affected. (Image: Rasulov / fotolia.com)

38,000 people died prematurely
According to an extrapolation, around 38,000 people worldwide died prematurely in 2015 because diesel vehicles do not comply with statutory emission limits - "especially in the European Union, China and India," according to a statement by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT)..

Accordingly, 11,400 of these deaths are attributable to the EU, such as an international team of researchers led by Drs. Susan Anenberg of the Environmental Health Analytics organization in Washington reports in the journal Nature.

According to their data, the total number of premature deaths from diesel oxides of nitrogen oxides was 107,600 for the eleven largest car markets in the world.

Automakers cheated on exhaust emissions
The study, which also involved the University of Colorado, the Stockholm Environment Institute, and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, calculated that diesel vehicles emit around 4.6 million tonnes of nitrogen oxides each year, compared to the official figures and estimates the tests of the manufacturers are likely.

According to the scientists, the total output in 2015 was 13.1 million tons. In strong sunlight ozone develops from nitrogen oxides. The molecules also contribute to the fine dust pollution.

The revelations in 2015, when it became known that Volkswagen and other manufacturers were using certain devices "to hide from the regulators that their diesel vehicles emit too much nitric oxide, have helped raise public awareness of the problem," writes the ICCT.

Many diesel vehicles emit more pollutants on the road than on the exhaust gas test bench. Systems that measure exhaust gases directly in traffic have meanwhile been able to determine in a series of studies how large the excess emissions are.

Researchers focused on nitrogen oxides
Anenberg and colleagues have used these results and established pollutant dispersion models to estimate emissions-exceeding emissions and consequences for the eleven largest markets for diesel vehicles.

In these markets - Australia, Brazil, China, the 28 EU member states, India, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and the USA - about 80 percent of all diesel vehicles are sold, reports the news agency dpa.

In their study, the experts focused on nitrogen oxides such as nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).

According to information, five markets - Brazil, China, the EU, India and the United States - account for 90 percent of additional output. The scientists differentiated their models for cars, trucks and buses.

"Heavy goods traffic - larger trucks and buses - contributed by far the most to excess nitrogen oxides, 76 percent," said Josh Miller of the ICCT in Washington.

Diesel cars are more widespread in the EU
The situation is different only in the EU because diesel cars are much more widespread there: these vehicles cause about 60 percent of the excess emissions of nitrogen oxides per year in EU countries.

"Europe carries the greatest health burden from additional nitrogen oxide emissions among the largest car markets," said ICCT expert and co-author Ray Minjares.

Of the 28,500 premature deaths caused by nitrogen oxides from diesel exhaust emissions in the EU, about 11,400 are attributable to additional emissions due to non-compliant exhaust gas limits.

Impact on the environment and health
Benjamin Stephan of Greenpeace described the study as "overdue": "It provides data that we have missed so far in the discussion," said the expert, according to dpa.

According to him, the investigation was solid, but it lacked more detailed information on car classes and brands.

The study could come in the processing of the diesel exhaust scandal to another focus. "So far, the fraud on the car owners was often the focus. Now it becomes clear what scale the scandal has and what impact this has on the environment and human health, "said Stephan.

However, the final report of the committee of inquiry of the German Bundestag on the exhaust gas scandal, which will be published shortly, comes to a different assessment. It states: "Epidemiologically, an association between deaths and certain NO2 exposures in terms of adequate causality has not been proven."

Various experts disagree. For example, Nino Künzli of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (TPH) in Basel explained: "The combination effects of NO2 with other ever-present pollutants are also hardly investigated toxicologically, which is why it is not appropriate to NO2 per se as harmless denote. "(ad)