The suit, filed in United States District Court in Alexandria, Virginia (US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia No. 1:12-cv-1066,) describes in detail how six EPA employees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical School intentionally pumped what they termed “lethal” amounts of diesel exhaust, specifically small particulate matter termed “PM2.5,” directly into the lungs of human volunteers who were not properly advised of the risks.

Additionally, federal law prohibits medical experiments on humans imposing risks that are not reasonable in relation to the anticipated benefits. [45 CFR 46.111 and 40 CFR 26.111(a)(2)] Those laws prohibit including possible long-range effects of applying knowledge gained the research when weighing risks and benefits.

The EPA admits there is no potential benefit to directly inhaling diesel fumes.

The American Tradition Institute (ATI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in Washington, DC and in Denver, CO. According to its mission statement, the ATI is "a public policy research and educational foundation ... founded in 2009 to help lead the national discussion about environmental issues, including air and water quality and regulation, responsible land use, natural resource management, energy development, property rights, and free-market principles of stewardship."

But "the Colorado-based American Tradition Institute is part of a broader network of groups with close ties to energy interests that have long fought greenhouse gas regulation. Our investigation also finds that ATI has [indirect[1]] connections with the Koch brothers, Art Pope and other conservative donors seeking to expand their political influence," reported the Institute for Southern Studies in October 2011.[2]