Elon Musk is facing another round of allegations of securities fraud, and this time, it comes from a medical ethics group questioning Musk's statement on the death of monkeys at his biotech startup Neuralink.
What Happened: Even as Musk claimed that no monkeys died due to Neuralink implants, a new investigation has painted a horrifying picture of how these monkeys died, and they are being linked back to Neuralink.
This is based on documents obtained by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), as seen by Wired.
The timing is quite important, too – Musk's Neuralink has announced that recruitments for the first human trials of its implants are now open, months after receiving approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
"The first human patient will soon receive a Neuralink device. This ultimately has the potential to restore full body movement," Musk said on Sept. 20.
The study will happen over six years, but it may not be a smooth affair if the research on primates is anything to go by.
Gruesome Deaths: The report paints a horrifying picture, going into the details of how the primates who were subject to Neuralink's research suffered.
According to the report, multiple monkeys had to be euthanized, suffering complications like "bloody diarrhea, partial paralysis, and cerebral edema."
Another monkey had to be euthanized in March 2020 because the cranial Neuralink implant "became loose" due to a "purely mechanical" failure.
Animal 15, another research subject, had an especially painful experience before she died.
"Animal 15 began to lose coordination, and staff observed that she would shake uncontrollably when she saw lab workers. Her condition deteriorated for months until the staff finally euthanized her. A necropsy report indicates that she had bleeding in her brain and that the Neuralink implants left parts of her cerebral cortex "focally tattered," the report says.
Image source – Shutterstock
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