Researchers warn unclaimed diesel car emissions may be causing an extra 4,560 premature deaths in Europe

Environmental researchers have reportedly calculated the number of premature deaths possibly resulting from higher levels of dangerous emissions being produced by diesel vehicles in Europe.

The figure has been released as 4,560; that’s 4,560 innocent people that have reportedly had their lives cut short because of excessive pollution being churned into the air we breathe by cars; like the NOx produced from diesel cars at the centre of the VW emissions scandal.

It does not make for good reading…

Disturbing discoveries

Scientists say they’ve found that, although 425,000 people reportedly die early from air pollution in Europe, big car makers may have allegedly increased this harrowing number because more pollutants are being emitted than previously estimated.

Across the globe, governments and heads of states cannot deny the problem of air pollution and its devastating consequences. Although we can’t always see it, air pollution can have a huge effect on the environment and our lives.

Car emissions like NOx are in the very air we breathe in and is exacerbating as well as causing respiratory problems. Air pollution has been linked to increased risks of heart disease and heart attacks; the number one killer in the U.K.

As long as we breathe in this air, all of us are affected.

Risk heightened by diesel cars with deaths possibly higher in the U.K.

The risks can be further increased where there is a concentration of diesel cars. Of the 11 million vehicles Volkswagen admitted to being affected by the emissions scandal surrounding the use of so-called “defeat devices”, 1.2 million are in the U.K. For a small nation with only 241,930 square kilometres of land, NOx being emitted from 1.2 million vehicles is arguably very concentrated.

Associate Professor of Aeronautics of the renowned MIT University, Steven Barrett, recognises such dangers:

“Considering the higher population density and significantly greater number of affected vehicles, it is possible the number of early deaths in the U.K. may be higher.”

NOx emissions is no laughing matter. NOx kills, and any organisation found to be cheating or deceiving regulators when it comes to the levels of dangerous NOx they are contributing should face the full might of the law. We cannot allow organisations to get away with causing or contributing to deaths.

The monetary cost

The health problems that excessive emissions can cause may also cost us a lot of money. With a nation riddled with breathing and health problems, healthcare and social costs may also rise.

Last year, researchers calculated that the scandal will cost taxpayers an extra £300 million to pay for these costs, but this may have been a conservative estimate.