The US Department of Transportation mentioned on Thursday it’s investigating Elon Musk’s brain-implant firm Neuralink over the possibly unlawful motion of hazardous pathogens.
A Department of Transportation spokesperson advised Reuters in regards to the probe after the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an animal-welfare advocacy group, wrote to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg earlier on Thursday to alert it of information it obtained on the matter.
PCRM mentioned it obtained emails and different paperwork that counsel unsafe packaging and motion of implants faraway from the brains of monkeys. These implants might have carried infectious illnesses in violation of federal regulation, PCRM mentioned.
The Department of Transportation spokesperson mentioned the company took PCRM’s allegations “very seriously.”
“We are conducting an investigation to ensure that Neuralink is in full compliance with federal regulations and keeping their workers and the public safe from potentially dangerous pathogens,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Representatives for Neuralink, together with Musk, didn’t reply to remark requests.
The Department of Transportation probe provides to the scrutiny going through Neuralink, which is creating a mind implant it hopes will assist paralyzed individuals stroll once more and treatment different neurological illnesses.
In December, Reuters reported that Neuralink has been beneath a federal investigation over potential animal welfare violations and that a few of its employees made inner complaints about experiments being rushed, inflicting pointless struggling and deaths.
The letter mentioned information that the group obtained confirmed cases of pathogens, equivalent to antibiotic-resistant staphylococcus and herpes B virus, which will have been transported with out correct containment measures.
The incidents that concerned potential breaches of hazardous materials transportation rules occurred in 2019, when Neuralink relied on University of California, Davis to assist perform its experiments on primates, in response to the paperwork cited by PCRM.
While Neuralink’s partnership with UC Davis resulted in 2020, PCRM mentioned the corporate continues to make use of the neurosurgeon who oversaw the experiments and different employees concerned may additionally nonetheless be employed.
Reuters reviewed the UC Davis information cited by PCRM in its letter. It is unclear whether or not additional information exist that present a distinct or fuller account of what occurred. PCRM obtained the information from UC Davis by means of public info requests. Neuralink messages and information not shared with UC Davis should not topic to such info requests.
A UC Davis spokesperson would solely say that the college abides by all biohazard and lab security rules.
PCRM’s letter mentioned pathogens have been carried on eliminated implants from monkeys after improper sanitization and packaging. The group mentioned these pathogens may trigger severe well being points in contaminated people, equivalent to bloodstream infections, pneumonia and extreme mind harm, amongst different issues.
PCRM, which opposes the usage of animals in medical analysis, didn’t determine any hurt because of these incidents, however mentioned Neuralink’s actions “may pose a serious and ongoing public health risk.”
“The company’s documented track record of sloppy, unsafe laboratory practices compel DOT to investigate and levy appropriate fines,” PCRM mentioned within the letter.
PCRM mentioned it additionally discovered cases that seem to explain UC Davis workers urging instant biohazard coaching for Neuralink workers following incidents that had brought on contamination considerations. On one event in April 2019, a UC Davis worker wrote in an e mail that the college’s primate heart is “at risk” for “monkey contaminated hardware.”
“This is an exposure to anyone coming in contact with the contaminated explanted hardware and we are making a big deal about this because we are concerned for human safety,” wrote the worker, whose identify was redacted from the information.
PCRM has raised considerations about Neuralink up to now. Last 12 months, it wrote to federal officers about alleged animal-welfare points throughout Neuralink’s analysis partnership with UC Davis, citing one other set of information it obtained. A federal prosecutor within the Northern District of California referred PCRM’s grievance to the USDA Inspector General, which later launched the federal probe into Neuralink, Reuters beforehand reported.
During its partnership with UC Davis, Neuralink grew annoyed with what it thought to be the sluggish tempo of testing on primates, present and former firm workers advised Reuters, and has since constructed out in depth in-house animal testing services. The firm has missed deadlines set by Musk to proceed to human trials, nevertheless. His strain on Neuralink’s employees to make progress contributed to errors plaguing some experiments, Reuters reported.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
