brain transplant
16 of 23 lab monkeys dead in Neuralink: Elon Musk was actually already planning experiments on humans
“Neuralink puts a lot of effort into animal care” – Elon Musk, founder of Neuralink.
© Patrick Plell / Picture Alliance
The goal is noble: Neuralink really wants to treat serious brain diseases with brain implants. The first trials on humans should begin in 2022. Now it turns out: laboratory animals usually do not survive.
Animal welfare organization “Doctors for Responsible Medicine” (“PCRM”) is suing jack-of-all-trades Elon Musk and medical company Neuralink from the American University of UC Davis. The allegation: Animals, specifically the laboratory monkey on which Neuralink tested its brain-computer interface, died of various causes. According to some reports of the case, seven of the original 23 monkeys are still alive.
According to the organization, evidence of dead animals and their abusive behavior is in the form of official documents with a volume of about 600 pages. Activists fought for their insights in court last year.
Up to ten surgeries – on a little monkey
These documents show that many animals suffered extreme suffering, and some had their skulls opened up to ten times in order to modify brain implants. Other animals were tied to chairs or locked in isolation for hours. The documents also mention brain hemorrhages, ulcers, severe inflammation and other, often fatal, lesions.
Documents come out at inconvenient times for the company. Neuralink is currently looking for a head of clinical studies, Musk spoke to in December 2021 via twitter That you want to start with the first trials on humans in 2022.
Marketing Top, Animal Welfare Flop
Jeremy Beckham, Animal Rights Activist of PCRM Medical Committee. He’s not wrong: Video of a macaque monkey playing pong went viral last year, and a video about animal welfare at Neuralink paints a picture of happy subjects.
Company founder Elon Musk has denied the allegations against his company. When asked by the Daily Beast, he said, “Neuralink is putting a lot of effort into the care of animals.” He denied working with the university: “We don’t do any research at UC Davis – it’s an almost entirely government-funded facility. They provide us with a small number of macaque monkeys and we take great care of them.” Huh.”
In addition to the lawsuits against UC Davis and Neuralink, activists are seeking images and videos of the research in another lawsuit. The university has so far resisted, as the work for Neuralink was done for a private company and there was no obligation to make the results public. Interestingly, this argument contradicts Musk’s statement that research teams will not work together.
“suspicious propaganda”
Financially, even a successful trial could hardly do anything. The “Daily Beast” reports that any fines will likely not exceed $10,000. “These companies book such penalties in the form of research fees,” Beckham says. But one effect of the criticism, especially if Neuralink doesn’t succeed in establishing this well, will probably be invaluable to activists: in addition to public criticism of animal handling, Elon Musk will have to explain himself and testing on humans is likely. : Will be canceled for the time being.
The start-up has already been criticized by experts. In late 2019, Ulrich Dirnagel, director of the Department of Experimental Neurology at the Charité Berlin, described Neuralink as “suspicious propaganda” to the IT specialist magazine “Heise”.
Source: Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, New York Post, daily animal, Hot
