Elon Musk’s Neuralink accused of subjecting monkeys to ‘extreme suffering’

Elon Musk’s Neuralink company is facing legal challenges after a report alleges the company subjected monkeys to extreme suffering in a series of experiments.

Neuralink is a company working on brain-chips. Musk claims these chips will one day make humans “hyper-intelligent”, and allow paralyzed people to walk.

However, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) alleges that between 2017 and 2020, test monkeys owned by Neuralink were subject to experiments that could be construed as torture, with evidence of rashes, self-mutilation and brain hemorrhages in documentation seen by the group. 

The experiments were a partnership between University of California Davis, and Neuralink, with a reported 23 monkeys involved in the experiment, 15 of which died or were euthanized as a result of complications, or “inadequate animal care.”

PCRM lodged a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday against UC Davis, claiming the primates faced “extreme suffering as a result of inadequate animal care and the highly invasive experimental head implants during the experiments.”

UC Davis ended its relationship with Neuralink in 2020 and says during the experiments it had thoroughly reviewed and approved research protocols. 

A spokesperson for UC Davis told DailyMail.com that “UC Davis staff provided veterinary care, including round-the-clock monitoring of experimental animals and reported any incidents to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), which mandated training and protocol changes as needed.”

“We strive to provide the best possible care to animals in our charge,” the spokesperson added. “Animal research is strictly regulated, and UC Davis follows all applicable laws and regulations including those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”