According to Reuters, the U.S. government is presently looking into whether Musk’s medical technology startup Neuralink may have broken animal welfare rules. Musk’s ambition to speed up development is purportedly causing more animals to suffer and die in Neuralink’s labs than is necessary, and frequently the deaths don’t even produce useful research data.
In-Depth details about Elon Musk’s Neuralink is being Under Investigation into for violating animal welfare laws:
The main goal of Neuralink is to create a brain implant that will aid those who are paralyzed or suffering from neurological conditions. Neuralink, like many other medical technology businesses, uses animals in its research. For example, it has implanted chips in the brains of monkeys and pigs. Unfortunately, it is common practice in this type of research to euthanize test animals when an experiment is finished.
Musk’s hurried timetables appear to have led to additional pressure and unnecessary mistakes, but Neuralink’s death count has reportedly been considerably higher than it needs to be. This is said to have resulted in faulty studies, repeated tests, and avoidable fatalities.
To make matters worse, it appears that many of these animals died in agony. Mistakes in Neuralink’s tests are said to have caused unnecessary pain while yielding data of uncertain quality. Surgeons allegedly used the incorrect surgical adhesive, implanted Neuralink’s gadget on the wrong spine, and implanted devices that were the wrong size.
According to records obtained by Reuters, Neuralink has murdered around 1,500 animals, including pigs, monkeys, mice, and rats, since 2018.
Of all, the amount of animal deaths does not necessarily imply that Neuralink did anything illegal. A huge corporation conducting large-scale animal testing must logically result in a large number of deaths. According to Reuters, Neuralink treats animals relatively well in comparison to other facilities, right up until they are experimented on and killed.
Despite this, internal records and Reuters interviews with over 20 former and current employees show that Neuralink’s test animals suffered and died on a larger scale than necessary due to Musk’s demands that researchers hurry up their work.
The US Department of Agriculture is apparently investigating Neuralink in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act. Reuters was unable to establish whether it was related to the charges made by the employees it spoke with, but it’s a pretty safe assumption. If the probe isn’t related to these charges, it means Neuralink has even more potential animal welfare issues, which no one wants to think about.
Musk stated that Neuralink could be ready to begin human testing within the next six months, assuming approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. However, it’s best to take this pronouncement with a grain of salt. Even ignoring the current discoveries about Neuralink’s animal experimentation, Musk has a track record of establishing unreasonably ambitious schedules and failing to deliver.
Musk stated in 2016 that Tesla planned to showcase a self-driving trip across the United States 2017. This did not occur. Musk announced in 2018 that he would launch two cargo flights to Mars in 2022. This did not occur. Musk had previously stated that human testing for Neuralink would begin in 2020, followed by 2022. This, too, did not occur.
It will be truly stunning if Neuralink begins human testing within the next six months. Even if it works, you should probably think twice before undergoing invasive brain surgery to allow the world’s richest man to put a chip in your grey matter.
