Nuralink test monkeys were brutally tortured, had holes in their heads, bleeding rashes and traces of painful interventions. An animal rights group says it has received records of monkey abuse
Nuralink is a biotechnology company founded by Tesla founder Elon Musk.
The animal rights group PCRM says it has received records detailing the abuse of monkeys.
Nuralink has tested a developed brain chip that will monitor and even stimulate brain activity.
In 2017, the company signed an agreement with the University of California, Davis, to develop the technology through testing on monkeys, as the university is known for its primate research base.
According to the group for the protection of animal rights, the university has concealed information about the treatment of animals during the tests.
“We wanted to look at the internal records of the University of California, Davis, including videos and photos, to better understand what happened to the animals in the experiments, as well as to check the integrity and promises of the study.”
The group for the protection of animal rights announced that the records show that the monkeys experienced “extreme suffering as a result of inadequate care and highly invasive experimental head implants during the experiments.”
The experiments lasted from 2017 to 2020. They involved 23 monkeys. Fifteen of them died or were euthanized by 2020. The other seven were transferred to a Nuralink facility.
“We have no information about what happened to them after November 2020 and we will probably never have one,” the PCRM said.
Records show that some monkeys had holes drilled in their heads, while others suffered from skin infections.
Nuralink says that “inserting a device into the brain always carries a certain risk of bleeding. We try to reduce this risk by using microfilaments inserted with a needle that is the size of many neurons in the brain.”
The company and the University of Davis ended their relationship in 2020.
