The theme of the evening: Anne Will asked her round: "Controversy over emissions - are driving bans proportional?" No new debate, actually, but reopened last week after the pulmonologist Dieter Köhler had gone to the press with a statement signed by almost one hundred of his colleagues: There is no scientific evidence that justifies the current limits for particulate matter and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are. Health dangers are unproven.
The media star of the week: Pulmonologist Köhler. "Extremely one-sided interpreted" would the corresponding results, he said now at Will. "The particulate matter problem is gone, that's the case." So he was there too, having honored "hard but fair" last week. Since then, a lot has happened. Meanwhile Köhler is praised by the one, about Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), for the "objectification" of the debate. Where the suspicion is obvious that he defines "objectification" as a "contribution that uses one's own concern" - for example, to prevent driving bans and speed limits.
From the others, also from their own guild, Köhler gets considerable headwind, not only with "Anne Will". A "scientific exotic" called him there, the epidemiologist Heinz-Erich Wichmann. Köhler simply did not know "how risk assessment is being done today". However, those who come from a position that one can sell as "not established" have at least in politics not the worst cards to penetrate.
NDR / Wolfgang Borrs
Dieter Köhler at "Anne Will"
The limits of the evening: The talk show format reached its limits, as Wichmann spoke extensively about the actions of the World Health Organization, about lengthy examination processes, the number of evaluated original papers and their resilience - but did not really come to the point. "We have a different pace here than in your science," said Will. She was right: there were also three political representatives invited, and there was no time to allow expert input on years of litigation in all due detail. They had to be formatted. One would have a little more depth, a little more time right here, where the talk left the room of opinion, but can use well.
The question of faith in the evening: Will asked Köhler why he had gone to the media: "I have not quite understood why you do it at all." And she played back the doubts he voiced: a Daimler engine developer had signed his position paper - "how independent are you?" But ultimately, for non-faculty viewers, the discussion turned to a question of faith. Do you want to drive diesel in the city center? Then you believe the Mr. Köhler with the beautiful red tie! You prefer alternatives to the car? Her husband is Mr. Wichmann with the lavender-colored shirt!
The self-description of the evening: Okay, it was not that simple. "I am also green from the heart" - said Dieter Köhler.
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The political debate of the evening: party politics also existed. "Doubts about the limits exist for many years," said Steffen Bilger, Secretary of State at the Transport Minister and the CDU, which - of course you can forget - for many years belongs to the government parties. "The air is cleaner than ever," he said.
Judith Skudelny, environmental spokeswoman for the FDP parliamentary group, went with it: She called for a moratorium; the limit should be suspended. In Stuttgart people would be expropriated. What was meant was: the right to drive with their diesel through the city center. "Every limit is a politically established value," she said, which no one denied. However, Greens leader Annalena Baerbock pointed out that this was applicable European law - and it would be difficult to suspend the limit values at will.
The "Somewhere heard before" idea of the evening: From here, the round was fixed to the measuring points in German cities: Nasty be that, said Skudelny. Other countries measure differently. In Stuttgart, on the other hand, a measuring device stands directly at a traffic light, where the exhaust gas concentration is particularly high. Representative should be the measurements; but "we try to measure maximums". Objection from Baerbock: There would only be driving restrictions where the values are particularly high. She said that there was a remedy for driving bans - and then the discussion was completely back in the diesel affair. The name means: cleaner cars. Hardware upgrades. (The most environmentally friendly cars according to ADAC can be seen in the following picture)
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ADAC Ecotest 2018: Electric winsThe limit values of the evening: which nitrogen oxide levels would be acceptable instead of the annual limit of 40 micrograms per cubic meter? Dieter Köhler said 100 would be "no problem at all," as in the US. Heinz-Erich Wichmann gladly accepted the template: "We are not here on the healthbazar right now."