A cache of gruesome photos of monkeys allegedly injured or killed in experiments with Elon MuskNeuralink technology for brain implants may not be released publicly – amid legal battle over a California university to do so — as the brain implant company denies allegations of animal cruelty.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) advocacy group says the University of California, Davis, has learned of 371 photographs of the monkeys being experimented with in the school’s veterinary lab facilities.
The prestigious University of California is in possession of hundreds of images of, among other things, “dead animal necropsies” in the experiments, according to PCRM, which has also filed a complaint against Neuralink.
Musk’s plan is to connect the human brain to a micron-sized device that uses neural-lace technology to implant tiny electrodes that could one day read a person’s mind. The technology will initially be used to help people suffering from degenerative brain disorders such as ALS, but it could also be used more widely.
A cache of gruesome photos of monkeys allegedly injured or killed in experiments with Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implant technology may not be released publicly — amid a legal battle that aims to sway a California university put to do this
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) advocacy group says they learned that the University of California, Davis has 371 photos of the monkeys being experimented with in the school’s veterinary lab facilities.
Musk’s plan is to connect the human brain to a micron-sized device that uses neural-lace technology to implant tiny electrodes that could one day read a person’s mind. The technology will initially be used to help people suffering from degenerative brain diseases such as ALS, but it could also be used more widely
“UC Davis thinks the public is too stupid to know what they’re watching,” said Physicians Committee research director Ryan Merkley.
“But it’s clear the university is just trying to hide from taxpayers that it partnered with Elon Musk to conduct experiments where animals suffered and died,” he said in a statement. press release.
When DailyMail.com reached out to him for comment, a Neuralink spokesperson referred to a company blog post detailing its commitment to animal welfare.
That blog post says all work that took place at UC Davis was approved by the school’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a federal mandate, and that by 2020, Neuralink will build a 6,000-square-foot vivarium for farm animals and rhesus monkeys that is “staffed with caretakers with a passion for animal welfare, that is central to Neuralink’s philosophy.’
Notably, Neuralink has never received a citation from USDA inspections of our facilities and animal care program, the company says.
“We recently applied for and received accreditation from the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC) International, a voluntary international agency that accredits excellence in animal care.”
The blog post takes a closer look at some of the ways the company says it exceeds industry standards for animal care, including in housing, nutrition, grooming, data collection and activity.
Neuralink has called PCRM a group that opposes any use of animals in scientific research. PCRM speaks on its website about a ‘transition from animal use to human-relevant’ research methods, the replacement of animals by ‘simulators’, as well as about ‘advanced methods to replace animal testing’.
Earlier this year, Neuralink admitted that several rhesus monkeys it used to test its brain technology had been euthanized following malfunctions or infections. That came in response to PCRM’s complaint against Neuralink filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging various animal abuses between 2017 and 2020.
UC Davis has already released more than 600 pages of records showing monkeys suffering from chronic infections, paralysis and seizures, according to the animal rights organization.
But the animal rights organization says the school still has two large photos, 317 in all, showing monkeys involved in the experiments, including some that have been reportedly killed.
A spokesperson for UC Davis told DailyMail.com that they were in full compliance with the California Public Records Act by responding to PCRM’s request and directed us to the earlier pronunciation.
UC Davis ended its relationship with Neuralink in 2020 and says it reviewed and approved all research protocols during the experiments. According to PCRM, Musk’s brain technology company UC Davis paid $1.4 million to use its facilities between 2017 and 2020.
Musk has said there will be a Neuralink update “show and tell” event on October 31.