Tuesday 29 November 2022 08:36 PM Elon Musk's Neuralink has been 'mutilating and killing monkeys' trends now
Elon Musk plans to hold a 'Show and Tell' event for his brain chip company Neuralink on November 30, but a group of physicians claims the firm is 'mutilating and killing monkeys' to create a 'brain-machine interface.'
Musk announced the event, which the company holds each year to showcase its latest updates, on Twitter. The first Show and Tell in 2020 demonstrated the brain implant in a pig and in 2021, the world saw it used by a monkey that died months after receiving the implant.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) recently launched a website detailing the gruesome stories of monkeys that are said to have suffered from sloppy experiments conducted at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).
PCRM shared lab notes with DailyMail.com detailing several experiments conducted on monkeys that had received implanted electrodes during surgeries.
Nueralink's head neurosurgeon Matthew MacDougall's name is shown within the messages as 'running the procedures.'
Reina Pohl, the communication specialist for PCRM, told Dailymail.com that the lab notes were provided to the group by UC Davis due to a lawsuit filed against it by PCRM in February - but notes Neuralink employees conducted the experiments.
The lawsuit states the animals 'suffered infections from the implanted electrodes placed in their brains' and an 'unapproved substance' known as BioGlue 'killed monkeys by destroying portions of their brains.'
Elon Musk is set to hold a 'show and tell' event on November 30 for his brain implant company Neuralink to share the updates with the device. Pictured is an image of the chip shared in 2020
DailyMail.com obtained lab notes from experiments conducted at the California National Primate Research Center. Nueralink's head neurosurgeon Matthew MacDougall's name is shown. This note reads: 'Dr. MacDougall says edges smooth (not sharp)
PCRM, which includes more than 17,000 physicians, states that the experiments were conducted at UC Davis, and Neuralink paid $1.4 million to use the university's facilities.
Neuralink has confirmed it conducted tests at the university and previously noted several animals were euthanized during experiments.
'As part of this work, two animals were euthanized at planned end dates to gather important histological data, and six animals were euthanized at the medical advice of the veterinary staff at UC Davis,' reads a Neuralink blog post.
DailyMail.com has contacted Neuralink and MacDougall for comment.
UC Davis declined to comment on the allegations but provided a link to a statement from February.
'Regarding the lawsuit by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, we fully complied with the California Public Records Act in responding to their request,' the statement reads.
'Indeed, additional materials have been supplied to PCRM since the conclusion of the research agreement with Neuralink.
The February lawsuit details eight experiments conducted at UC Davis, with each monkey listed with a number.
Animal 21: A seven-year-old macaque that experimenters drilled holes into her skull to insert electrodes attached to implants
The report claims experiments on this monkey started on September 10, 2018, when staff first made an incision in her head and cut the underlying muscle. The 'cranial sealant' refers to the Bioglue that was later found to cause the monkey's decline in health
The lawsuit continues to explain just two days after the surgery, the monkey was 'repeatedly vomiting, gasping, retching and had very little interaction with environment/observers.' These allegations are seen in lab notes said to have been made by Neurlink staff
The lab notes made on September 11 state that the monkey eventually just laid down'.' The note also states a 'declining postop'
UC Davis staff wrote that the monkey should only be kept for another 24 hours due to its declining condition and then euthanized
While the lawsuit claims Bioglue was the cause of death, also seen in these lab notes, Neuralink has admitted in a blog post that one of the monkeys died because of the adhesive
Neuralink's 'Show and Tell' event last year saw a monkey with a brain implant playing a video game with just its mind. This monkey, however, died months after
The group's website and lawsuit note that this monkey was admitted to the Neuralink program in 2018 and went under the knife on September 10.
According to the lawsuit, animal 21 underwent an electrode insertion survivability procedure' that involved implanting electrodes into its brain.
The document continues to explain just two days after the surgery, the monkey was 'repeatedly vomiting, gasping, retching and had very little interaction with environment/observers.'
Lab notes from staff are said to state that the monkey looked drained entirely three days after the procedure, and shortly after, she was euthanized.
A necropsy showed the monkey's failing health was due to an adhesive called BioGlue that was used to fill holes in the animal's skull and caused bleeding in her brain, according to PCRM.
In Neuralink's blog, the company admitted there was 'one surgical complication involving the use of the FDA-approved product (BioGlue),' and the monkey was euthanized.
Animal 11: An 11-year-old macaque that had a history of trauma
The lawsuit claims UC Davis staff made notes about Animal 11 before Nueralink conducted experiments. The team noted the animal was 'missing multiple digits' likely due to self-mutilation or other trauma
