Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain implants aim to put a chip in the human brain for us to control things with our mind. Now, while the technology sounds straight out of an episode of Black Mirror, the reality is rather scary. According to a report, out of the total 23 monkeys that were implanted with the Neuralink Chip during testing at the University of California Davis between 2017 and 2020, at least 15 of them died.
Reports in Business Insider and the New York Post, the news came from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which is an animal rights group. The Physicians Committee viewed over 700 pages of documents, veterinary records, and necropsy reports via public records at the University. “Pretty much every single monkey that had had implants put in their head suffered from pretty debilitating health effects,” PCRMs research advocacy director Jeremy Beckham said. “They were, frankly, maiming and killing animals,” he said.
According to reports, the Neuralink chips were implanted in monkeys by drilling holes into their skullls. The reports said that one primate developed a bloody skin infection and had to be euthanised. Another was discovered with missing fingers and toes, from possible self-mutilation of some other unspecified trauma and “had to be put down,” the report said. Another began uncontrollably vomiting shortly after the surgery and days later appeared to “collapse from exhaustion or fatigue.” Autopsy reports say that the animal suffered brain hemorrhage.
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The PCRM has filed a complaint with the US Department of Agriculture, accusing University of California Davis and Elon Musk’s Neuralink of nine violations of the Animal Welfare Act. “Many, if not all, of the monkeys experienced extreme suffering as a result of inadequate animal care and the highly invasive experimental head implants during the experiments, which were performed in pursuit of developing what Neuralink and Elon Musk have publicly described as a ‘brain -machine interface,” the group was quoted as saying in the complaint.
Neuralink was founded in 2016 with an aim to help people recovering from serious brain injuries and spinal cord injuries. It is also said to cure depression and mental health disorders, apart from connecting humans to the internet.
A recent report had said that Neuralink will start human trials later this year. According to a dailymail.co.uk report, the firm is hiring a clinical trial director, which says the right candidate will “work closely with some of the most innovative doctors and top engineers, as well as working with Neuralink’s first Clinical Trial participants” .
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