Neuralink Reportedly Under Federal Investigation For Causing 1,500 Animal Deaths

While Neuralink CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the firm will head to human trials for its life-changing brain chips soon, a new report has emerged that the company could be facing a federal investigation over animal wellbeing concerns.

This isn’t the first time the firm has gotten in hot water over how it treats its animal test subjects, with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filing a lawsuit last year over harmed macaque monkeys. 

According to Reuters, the revelations paint a grim picture of what’s been going on behind the curtain. Ever since it began in 2018, it is believed that Neuralink has killed an estimated 1,500 animals thus far, including 280 sheep, pigs, and monkeys. 

While it’s unclear which subjects have died after being implanted with the prototype brain chip, it was previously noted that “pretty much every single monkey that had had implants put in their head suffered from pretty debilitating health effects.” 

Unfortunately, animal deaths are common in the healthcare industry, as companies face tight deadlines to bring products to market. The publication pointed out that test subjects are commonly killed once experiments are completed for post-mortem research purposes. 

However, despite Neuralink having passed all of the US Department of Agriculture’s inspections and not being known to violate any rulings, ex- and current employees suggest the number of animals that have been harmed is higher than necessary. 

Due to Musk’s drive to speed up research, it appears four experiments involving 86 pigs and two monkeys had not gone as planned, resulting in repeated attempts needing to be performed with more animal subjects. 

The insiders that spoke to the news site said these mistakes were likely due to a lack of preparation by staff in the facilities, who are “working in a press-cooker environment” with rushed schedules—raising the risks to animals in the testing processing. 

Nothing can be confirmed just yet, but it is more or less certain that the USDA Inspector General has launched a formal probe into Neuralink, looking into the testing and treatment of animals within the company’s facilities. 

[via Futurism and Reuters, cover image via Fotofreaks | Dreamstime.com]