Neuralink has leaped into damage control to defend its treatment of test monkeys that animal rights groups claim were subjected to torture and horrific conditions.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk’s mind-melding brain-computer interface venture issued a lengthy statement pushing back against recent criticism from animal rights groups claiming the company’s experiments on monkeys led to “extreme suffering,” and more than a dozen deaths.
“Recent articles have raised questions around Neuralink’s use of research animals at the University of California, Davis Primate Center,” Neuralink said. “It is important to note that these accusations come from people who oppose any use of animals in research.”
The company went on to defend its practices, claiming animal testing was ethically required for all novel medical devices prior to human trials. Though human Neuralink trials likely won’t occur for some time, recent hiring reports suggest the company is definitely moving in that direction. Neuralink says it has yet to receive a single citation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture over its treatment of animals.
“At Neuralink, we are absolutely committed to working with animals in the most humane and ethical way possible.”
Neuralink’s statement comes less than one week after an animal rights group called Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine publicized a complaint filed with the US Department of Agriculture. That complaint, which at times read like a dystopian sci-fi version of Upton...
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