Animals in Labs Article from All-Creatures.org

Statement from the Physicians Committee on Neuralink's Purported Patient Implant

From Physicians Committee
January 2024

On January 29, 2024, Elon Musk claimed on his social media platform X that a patient had received an implant from Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink “and is recovering well.” The statement has not been independently verified. It is important to remember that Musk has a long track record of misleading the public about Neuralink’s supposed developments. In addition, Neuralink has a well-documented history of conducting unnecessary, sloppy experiments in monkeys, pigs, sheep, and other animals that raise serious concerns about the safety of its device.

[Also read Physicians Group to SEC: Elon Musk’s DealBook Summit Claims About Dead Monkeys May Be Securities Fraud and Physicians Group to SEC: Elon Musk’s DealBook Summit Claims About Dead Monkeys May Be Securities Fraud]

Brain surgery simulation...

On January 29, 2024, Elon Musk claimed on his social media platform X that a patient had received an implant from Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink “and is recovering well.” The statement has not been independently verified. It is important to remember that Musk has a long track record of misleading the public about Neuralink’s supposed developments. In addition, Neuralink has a well-documented history of conducting unnecessary, sloppy experiments in monkeys, pigs, sheep, and other animals that raise serious concerns about the safety of its device. Past experiments revealed serious safety concerns stemming from the device’s invasiveness and rushed actions by company employees. In addition, a significant number of medical devices approved for clinical trials fail to ever make it to the market. As such, the public should continue to be skeptical of the safety and functionality of any device produced by Neuralink.

According to a March 2023 news report, which cited Neuralink employees, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) itself “raised safety concerns” related to “device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant’s tiny wires to migrate to other areas of the brain; and questions over whether and how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue.”

In addition, Musk’s true intentions for Neuralink are disturbingly clear. He has repeatedly said the goal of the company is “to achieve a symbiosis with artificial intelligence,” which is not necessarily in line with developing treatments for patients.

The Physicians Committee continues to urge Elon Musk and Neuralink to shift to developing a noninvasive brain-computer interface. Researchers elsewhere have already made progress to improve patient health using such noninvasive methods, which do not come with the risk of surgical complications, infections, or additional operations to repair malfunctioning implants. Noninvasive devices are already demonstrating the ability to improve quality of life for older adults and elderly patients, translate brain activity into intelligible speech, and assist paralyzed patients.

“Without more information, it’s impossible to know if Neuralink has achieved anything,” said Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy at the Physicians Committee. “But we do know that Neuralink has a troubling history of sloppy science and illegal activity. And we know that Musk could help a great number of patients if he would instead develop a noninvasive brain-computer interface.”

The Physicians Committee was the first group to obtain internal records from the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), where Neuralink conducted painful, deadly experiments on monkeys between 2017 and 2020. Many of those records were released to the public by the Physicians Committee in February 2022. Here is a timeline of events since then:

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE including dated reports, news and articles

 

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