The USDA has launched a "highly unusual" investigation into animal testing of Neuralink, a company co-founded by Elon Musk in 2016 to develop devices that implant human brains to interact directly with computers. .
The investigation into the alleged animal welfare violations was launched "within the past several months" at the request of federal prosecutors, two unnamed sources told Reuters.
Delcianna Winders, director of the Vermont School of Law's Animal Law and Policy Institute, told Reuters the animal investigation was "highly unusual" for the USDA's inspector general, which primarily deals with illegal livestock farming. . .
Reuters said it analyzed "dozens" of internal company documents and interviewed "more than 20 current and former employees" of Neuralink in preparing the exclusive report. This suggests that Musk's impatient and pushy approach led to human error in animal testing. This in turn led to questionable test results, meaning that some tests had to be repeated, often with fatal consequences for the test animals.
However, Reuters could not confirm whether the federal investigation was focused on that issue or something else.
According to archives and other sources, about 1,500 animals have died as a result of Neuralink scientists testing the product since 2018.
Among these animals are an unknown number of sheep, pigs and monkeys. Reuters notes that Neuralink does not keep detailed enough records to accurately count the number of deaths or show which animal species are most affected. The company's research also uses rats and mice.
However, all this does not mean that Neuralink broke any law. Animal studies, of course, must be completed before human experimentation can be considered legal.
Often animals are euthanized after examination for pathological analysis.
Has Neuralink gone too far?
Yes: 33% (1 vote)
No: 67% (2 votes)
In February, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed a complaint with the USDA against Neuralink, alleging that monkeys the company used for research were "caged in single cages, had steel rods bolted to their skulls, had 'facial injuries,'" convulsions. . after brain implantation and recurrent infections at the implantation site.
According to Forbes, the group accused Neuralink and the University of California, Davis, where the experiment was conducted, of "gross violations." The company, however, claims that the USDA never found any violations during a previous inspection of the company's facilities.
Reuters noted, according to former employees, that the company generally treated the monkeys well.
"Company executives bragged internally about building Monkey Disneyland in Austin, Texas, a facility where lab animals could roam," said a former employee. In the company's early years, Musk told employees he wanted the monkeys at his San Francisco Bay Area facility to live in a "monkey Taj Mahal," according to a former employee who overheard the comments. Another former employee recalled that Musk said he didn't like using animals for research but wanted to make sure they were the "happiest animals" in his life, according to Reuters.
Musk also demanded speed from his investigators, repeatedly urging them to "pretend you have a bomb strapped to your head to move faster," three sources told Reuters.
"A former employee who asked management to do more thorough testing a few years ago was told by senior management that it was not possible because of Musk's speed requirements," the employee told Reuters.
Two others told the publication that they left because of problems with animals at Neuralink.
The USDA OIG declined to comment on the Reuters report when The Western Journal obtained an email, neither denying nor confirming the Neuralink investigation.
The Western Journal also reached out to Neuralink for comment, but did not hear back.
This article first appeared in The Western Journal.
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