The richest person in the world, Elon Musk, made the first promotion of the ‘brain chip’ project Neuralink in 2020. The company, which develops brain-computer interfaces that can be implanted in the brain, shared a video in early 2021 showing that this device was successful in experiments on monkeys.
However, many scientists expressed that they were worried about this project and stated that implanting a chip in people’s brains could have negative consequences, and that the project could be exploited for commercial gains. Now an animal rights organization has accused Musk’s monkey-tested project of harming animals.
‘Deadly experiments are underway’
The Committee of Centers for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a non-profit animal rights advocacy group, established Elon Musk’s Neuralink company and He filed a complaint against the University of California with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for violating the Animal Welfare Act. The organization accused Neuralink of funding the torture of monkeys.
According to Futurism, PCRM accused the University of California of performing ‘deadly experiments’ on 23 monkeys and receiving $1.4 million from Neuralink for these experiments. In addition, the complaint alleged that screws were tried to be inserted into the skulls of monkeys, unapproved materials were used in the experiments, and veterinary services were not provided to the animals.
PCRM’s Jeremy Beckham also expressed his reactions to the experiments, saying, “Just because the University of California has handed over its publicly funded facilities to a billionaire does not mean that the experiments can escape transparency principles and violate federal animal laws.” .
In the statements made by the University, it was stated that the animals were cared for in the best possible way and the research protocols were completely reviewed and approved. There was no response from Musk’s San Francisco-based company regarding the allegations.
Video shared by Neuralink last year
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