Exhaust emissions are measured in a diesel-engined car in Eichenau, Germany July 28, 2017. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government on Monday dismissed as unjustifiable any auto emissions testing on monkeys or people.

German daily Stuttgarter Zeitung reported at the weekend that a research organization funded by German carmakers sponsored scientific experiments testing nitrogen dioxide, a gas found in exhaust fumes, on people.

Separately, BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE have condemned emissions experiments involving monkeys.

“These tests on monkeys or even people are in no ethical way justifiable and raise many critical questions about those who are behind the tests,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference in Berlin.

“The supervisory bodies of those who issued these contracts have a special responsibility,” he added.