AP Analysis: dozens of deaths in the US VW software – El Nuevo Herald

The pollution control system engines Volkswagen has not been a simple trap without victims, but killed between five and 20 people in the United States annually in recent years, according to a statistical analysis and computerized The Associated Press.

The software that the company admitted that was used to circumvent the emission limits imposed by the government allowed the engines produce enough pollution to cause between 16 and 94 deaths for seven years and counting Annual recently as more diesel grew out of circulation. The total cost exceeded 100 million dollars.

And that’s just in the United States. It was probably much more deadly and costly in Europe, where diesel Volkswagen sells more vehicles, the engineers said. Scientists and experts pointed out that the number of deaths in Europe could be as high as hundreds of people every year, but warned that it is difficult to transfer computer models of health and quality of US air European cities, which are more densely populated.

“Statistically, we can not point who died because of this policy, but some have died or probably died as a result of it,” said the professor of environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon, Peter Adams, who calculated how damaging the contaminated air through a sophisticated computer model that he and the AP used in analysis.

The software altered allowed Volkswagen diesel vehicles emit 10 to 40 times more nitrogen oxides than allowed by laws, making it “a clear concern for air quality and public health,” said Janet McCabe, acting head of air quality of United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Nitrogen oxides are smog-that dark and dirty air complicating and in some people view her breath, but also aggravate further and deadly problem: small particles of soot. Numerous medical studies show that these tiny particles cause about 50,000 deaths annually in the United States, most from heart problems.

Nitrogen oxides can travel thousands of kilometers, so that pollution in Pittsburgh you can feel on the eastern coast of the United States, Adams said.

Experts estimate how much pollution costs to society considering the value of the lives lost. In this case, Adams and others estimate that the lives lost -valuadas 8.6 million each- outweigh costs such as lost workdays or hospitalization expenses. The total annual cost of pollutants in excess of VW diesel cars was between 40 and 170 million, calculated environmental engineering professors.