Published 6 Dec. 2022 at 12:32Updated 6 Dec. 2022 at 17:24
Scientific rigor and haste are incompatible. While Elon Musk was still furious lately that his Neuralink startup wasn’t producing enough results yet, the latter is being accused of failing its animal tests by causing unnecessary suffering.
The company that develops brain implants is under federal investigation for violating the Animal Welfare Act, according to a Reuters report. “This investigation comes at a time of growing employee dissent over animal testing, including complaints that CEO Elon Musk is pushing to speed up development,” according to the news agency, which was able to read “dozens of documents” and speak to about twenty employees. . and former employees.
A few days ago, at an event in California, Elon Musk proudly presented the latest achievements of his startup, which aims to develop interfaces for communicating with computers through thought. After several years of testing his products on monkeys, the CEO said he hopes to start human trials “within the next six months.”
Killed about 1500 animals.
Reuters was unable to determine the exact scope of the federal investigation, or whether it involved the same alleged animal testing issues reported by employees in interviews. But it appears that this investigation was launched in recent months by the USDA inspector general at the request of a federal prosecutor and that it is focused on violations of the law governing how researchers treat and test certain animals. .
Since 2018, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, according to reports analyzed by Reuters. Experiments were also carried out on rats and mice. These numbers do not necessarily indicate that Neuralink is breaking the rules. But interviewed employees say that this number of deaths could have been reduced if Elon Musk had not demanded to speed up the search.
Methods of work questioned
In addition to “human errors” during several experiments “leading to the death of animals”, Neuralink’s methods of operation are being questioned. Employees talk about the stressful environment, “last-minute changes before surgery” and an unconventional approach to research. Instead of testing one item at a time and drawing conclusions before moving on to another test, a US startup is running a series of tests that results in more animal deaths.
The startup has already been flagged for cruelty to monkeys. The Peta Association has strongly condemned the company, and a legal battle is underway to obtain photos of the monkeys tested at the University of California.
This federal investigation is a new shadow added to the picture of Elon Musk being attacked from all sides for his leadership and facing serious problems after taking over microblogging site Twitter.
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