Regulator Reports No Animal Welfare Violations at Elon Musk Company Since 2019 Incident
Lawmakers have been informed by the chief of the U.S. agency in charge of animal welfare that no breaches of animal research regulations were discovered at Elon Musk’s Neuralink, except for a previously reported incident from 2019.
USDA officials conducted a “targeted” inspection in response to a complaint about the company’s handling of animal testing but found no violations, agency Secretary Thomas Vilsack wrote to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in a July 14 letter reviewed by Reuters.
The audit included visits to Neuralink’s two locations in January 2023, Vilsack wrote, adding that more audits will follow.
Musk has expressed big ambitions for the launch of his brain implant, saying its chip would enable both the healthy and the disabled to enter neighborhood spaces by quickly inserting surgical devices to treat obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia. He even sees that they are used for surfing the net and for telepathy.
Neuralink is preparing to test the brain implant device in humans.
In his letter, Vilsack said his agency did not include in its audit citations an “adverse surgical event” at Neuralink that occurred in August 2019. The company proactively reported the incident and took corrective action that was consistent with policy at the time, Vilsack added. The USDA changed its rules in 2021 so that reporting a violation no longer avoids a citation.
In a 2019 incident, a Neuralink surgeon used sealant to seal holes drilled into a monkey’s skull that had not been approved by an animal research review panel, according to emails and public records obtained by PCRM, an animal welfare group.
The most recent complaint that triggered the review was filed in February 2022 by PCRM against Neuralink and the University of California, Davis, which was partnering with the company at the time. It claimed the company conducted lethal experiments on 23 monkeys between 2017 and 2020. Neuralink ended its collaboration with UC Davis in 2020.
Since then, the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been investigating possible animal welfare violations at the request of federal prosecutors amid internal complaints by Neuralink employees that its animal cages have been rushed, causing unnecessary suffering and death. This was reported by Reuters.
Through years of interviews and internal documents, Reuters identified four experiments involving 86 pigs and two monkeys that were tainted by human error. Errors undermined the research value of the experiments and required repeat tests, resulting in more animals being killed.
Vilsack did not provide an update on the progress of the OIG investigation. “If the (OIG) investigates the Neuralink facility and finds that additional action should be taken by USDA, we will cooperate fully to implement those actions,” he wrote.
Neuralink and OIG representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Blumenauer responded by calling for a more urgent investigation. “I urge the audit agency to quickly complete its investigation and make its findings public,” he said in a statement.
Ryan Merkley, director of research advancement at PCRM, said the USDA is giving Neuralink a “free pass.”
SUPERVISORY BOARD
U.S. lawmakers had also raised concerns with the USDA about potential conflicts of interest on the animal research oversight board after Reuters reported it was filled with company insiders who could benefit financially as the company made progress on its goals.
By law, Vilsack wrote, the oversight board requires an attending veterinarian and someone not affiliated with the research facility or its employees to provide an impartial observer — a threshold that Neuralink formally meets. He said the agency’s inspectors typically look at documents and protocols “that reveal potential conflicts of interest.”
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently granted the company a request to begin human testing of its brain implant device. It initially rejected Neuralink’s request for a human trial last year, citing safety concerns, Reuters has reported.
Even after FDA approval, the company faces other challenges. The Department of Transportation is investigating whether Neuralink illegally transported dangerous pathogens using chips removed from monkey brains without proper protection.
