Before passing to man within six months. as Elon Musk says, Neuralink brain implant trials were first performed in monkeys. Therefore, an animal rights association has challenged the US Department of Transportation stating that Neuralink had transported contaminated materials from sick monkeys used for implant testing in 2019. The Department of Transportation is now conducting an investigation.
The Professional Committee for Responsible Medicine, an animal rights association, wrote on February 9, a letter to the Secretary of State for Transport, to warn that Neuralink was negligent and carried out “unsafe practices”.
The association asked the ministry to investigate Neuralink “for violation of the federal law on the transportation of hazardous materials and to fine it accordingly.” The association is based on emails exchanged between Neuralink and employees of the University of California.
Risk of virus transmission
Neuralink poses “a serious and ongoing risk to public health” by handling implants taken from monkeys in this way, the letter says. The association targets in particular materials from a brain implant from a monkey killed in March 2019 that could have been transported without Neuralink following procedures and at the risk of transmitting a deadly virus such as herpes B. And the letter continues: ” Neuralink employees appear to have unsafely packaged and transported these contaminated materials (…) the employees have not received the required safety training.”
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, an entity of the Department of Transportation, is investigating. “We are conducting an investigation to ensure that Neuralink complies with federal regulations and protects its workers and the public from potentially harmful pathogens,” the agency told the outlet. Bloomberg.
It is not the first time that Neuralink has been targeted by this association for the defense of animal causes. she already had filed a complaint against the company on February 10, 2022 for cases of sometimes fatal abuse of monkeys.
Source: BFM TV
