Elon Musk's Neuralink under investigation for allegedly using animals for testing
San Francisco, California - Billionaire Elon Musk's company Neuralink is being investigated for allegedly using animals for product testing.
According to Reuters, the company is under federal investigation for animal-welfare violations after employees complained that the "rushed" testing has caused the unnecessary suffering and deaths of countless animals.
The probe, opened by the US Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General following the request of a federal prosecutor, will review whether the company violated the Animal Welfare Act, which regulates the treatment and testing of animals.
The company has allegedly killed about 1,500 animals, including sheep, pigs, and monkeys. The test subjects are usually killed once the test is completed, often for the purpose of post-mortem research.
Employees have claimed the unreasonably high number of animal deaths is a result of Elon Musk urging workers to speed up company progress. The company also does not keep records of animals tested and killed, making any proposed number an estimate.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has denounced Musk and Neuralink for the testing, and is calling on users of Twitter, another company that Musk owns, to do the same.
"Neuralink and the University of California-Davis are responsible for the deaths of at least 15 monkeys because of Elon Musk’s quest to stick a chip in a human's brain," a representative for the organization told TMZ.
The PETA representative added, "Experimenting on and killing animals is never good science, and since monkeys in Musk's experiments have also died for reasons that have nothing to do with these studies, the laboratory should be closed."
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire