Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards

Hou, Lifang; Zhang, Kai; Luthin, Moira A.; Baccarelli, Andrea A.

doi:10.3390/ijerph13090891

Open AccessCommunication

Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards

by

Lifang Hou

^1,†,

Kai Zhang

^2,*,†

,

Moira A. Luthin

³

and

Andrea A. Baccarelli

^4,†

¹

Department of Preventive Medicine and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA

²

Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA

³

Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA

⁴

Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13(9), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090891

Submission received: 15 May 2016 / Revised: 19 August 2016 / Accepted: 23 August 2016 / Published: 8 September 2016

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Abstract

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a notice of violation against Volkswagen (VW) for installing a defective device in certain models of diesel cars to circumvent emission tests for nitrogen oxides (NO_x). We quantified the health and economic impacts of extra NO_x emissions attributable to non-compliant vehicles in the U.S. using the EPA’s Co-Benefits Risk Assessment model. We estimated that the total extra NO_x emitted over one year of operation would result in 5 to 50 premature deaths, 687 to 17,526 work days with restricted activity, and economic costs of $43,479,189 to $423,268,502, based on various assumptions regarding emission scenarios and risks. This study highlights the potential impacts of VW vehicles’ lack of compliance on the health and well-being of the U.S. population.

Keywords: nitrogen oxides; risk assessment; vehicle emissions

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MDPI and ACS Style

Hou, L.; Zhang, K.; Luthin, M.A.; Baccarelli, A.A. Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2016, 13, 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090891

AMA Style

Hou L, Zhang K, Luthin MA, Baccarelli AA. Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2016; 13(9):891. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090891

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hou, Lifang, Kai Zhang, Moira A. Luthin, and Andrea A. Baccarelli. 2016. "Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 13, no. 9: 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090891

APA Style

Hou, L., Zhang, K., Luthin, M. A., & Baccarelli, A. A. (2016). Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(9), 891. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph13090891

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Public Health Impact and Economic Costs of Volkswagen’s Lack of Compliance with the United States’ Emission Standards

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