Neuralink: Federal investigation and worker reactions to animal testing  

They call the deaths unnecessary

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is developing a brain implant that aims to help paralyzed people walk again and treat various neurological disorders. However, according to Reuters , the company is now under federal investigation for possible violations in the way it handles animals. There are also complaints from workers that animal testing is rushed, causing unnecessary suffering and death.

Specifically, the investigation focuses on violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which sets out how researchers must treat animals. For their part, some employees of the company say that Musk is pushing to speed up the development of the chip, resulting in many failed experiments, increasing the number of animals that participate in them and die.

A total of around 1,500 animals have died since 2018, including sheep, pigs and monkeys. In fact, the number is simply an estimate, since the company does not keep records of the number of animals that participate in the experiments and die. The number of deaths alone does not mean that Neuralink is violating regulations, since many companies use animals in their experiments to develop innovations in the field of human health. Most of the time the animals are killed after the experiments to be examined for research purposes.

But Neuralink officials say the number of animal deaths is higher than needed because of Musk’s demand to speed up research. On several occasions, Musk reportedly told his employees to imagine they had a bomb strapped to their heads in an attempt to get them to move faster.

The problems with Neuralink’s experiments raise questions about the quality of the experiment results, possibly delaying the start of human trials, which Musk wants to begin within the next six months.