In the world of scientific research, animal experimentation has been a topic of constant debate. Now a new controversy has arisen around Neuralink, the biotechnology company founded by Elon Musk. This week they announced the opening of registrations to carry out tests of their brain implants in humans, called PRIME. A little more than 24 hours later, a medical ethics group asked the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate the deaths of 15 of the 23 monkeys used in the project's clinical trials.
Information about the deaths of monkeys in Neuralink's clinical trials came to light through Wired, and indicated that some of these primates died due to brain implants inserted into their brains as part of the company's experiments. .
Elon Musk responded to these accusations in a post on his social network X. He assured that "no monkeys have died as a result of a Neuralink implant." He argued that terminally ill monkeys were chosen, which minimized the risk to his health.
However, documents obtained by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reveal disturbing details about the suffering of some of the monkeys used in the experiments. Some experienced serious complications, such as bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis or brain edema.
A former Neuralink employee, who spoke to Wired on condition of anonymity, contradicts the tech mogul's account by stating that the monkeys were not close to death before the implants. Quite the contrary. Additionally, he added that primates required up to a year of behavioral training prior to surgeries.
Wired had access to veterinary records from the University of California. These documents detailed the complications that the monkeys developed once the chips were implemented. His conditions included “bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis and cerebral edema.” The documentation also went into detail about the primates named Animal 15, Animal 20 and Animal 22.
The first of these began pressing his head against the ground after he had undergone surgery. As the months passed, his condition worsened, until he shook overwhelmingly every time he saw the laboratory workers. In the end he was euthanized. Among the documents, the necropsy report that was carried out on said monkey also stands out and indicated that he had brain hemorrhages caused by the chips.
This is not the first time that Elon Musk faces legal problems related to his statements on social networks. In 2018, he was charged with securities fraud for his tweets about Tesla, which resulted in him resigning as president of the company and being fined $40 million.
Federal investigations into the company's practices remain ongoing, while Neuralink continues to make progress toward its goal of developing commercial brain-computer interfaces.
