Inside Elon Musk’s Neuralink lab the place 1,500 animals have been killed

The horrific animal testing carried out to convey Elon Musk‘s Neuralink undertaking to life contains drilling holes into monkeys’ heads and filling them in with glue, DailyMail.com can reveal. 

In the week Musk claimed to have put a Neuralink implant right into a human for the primary time, paperwork present that the corporate used ‘Bioglue’ to patch up holes within the monkeys’ heads after operations.

The paperwork launched from the University of Davis, California, which partnered with Neuralink in assessments for 3 years from 2017 to 2020, present that monkeys had operations on their skulls as much as 10 instances every earlier than being put down.

Surgeons drilled into their heads and implants have been connected to their brains however they didn’t match correctly – that means they protruded outdoors, the file reveals.

Death reviews reveal that monkeys had components of their limbs amputated and have been put down after repeatedly vomiting and having episodes of diarrhea.

All instructed, Neuralink has killed no less than 1,500 animals together with sheep and pigs throughout its quest for a chip which can permit folks to manage digital units with their minds.

The paperwork have been obtained by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a marketing campaign group, which mentioned that the monkeys endured ‘excessive struggling’ throughout a ‘systematic disregard’ for his or her lives.

PCRM mentioned that the general public needs to be skeptical about claims by Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, who bragged this week: ‘Imagine if Stephen Hawking might talk quicker than a pace typist or auctioneer. That is the purpose.’

Last month he mentioned Neuralink was quadriplegics below 40 years previous to participate in human trials, the place a surgeon would take away a part of their cranium earlier than a robotic implanted 64 threads lined with electrodes on the mind.

In an announcement to DailyMail.com, PCRM mentioned that Musk had a ‘lengthy monitor document of deceptive the general public about Neuralink’s supposed developments.’

The assertion mentioned: ‘Neuralink has a well-documented historical past of conducting pointless, sloppy experiments in monkeys, pigs, sheep, and different animals that elevate critical issues in regards to the security of its system.

‘As such, the general public ought to proceed to be skeptical of the security and performance of any system produced by Neuralink’.

The assertion added that ‘Musk’s true intentions for Neuralink are disturbingly clear.’

It mentioned: ‘He has repeatedly mentioned the purpose of the corporate is ”to attain a symbiosis with synthetic intelligence” which isn’t essentially consistent with growing therapies for sufferers.’

Neuralink partnered with UC Davis from 2017 to 2020 after which it introduced its analysis program in-house with amenities in California and Austin, Texas, the place it’s primarily based.

The 1,500 animals which were killed reportedly embody greater than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys.

While Musk reportedly mentioned that he needed take a look at monkeys to reside in a ‘monkey Taj Mahal’, pictures obtained by DailyMail.com of the UC Davis lab paint a far starker actuality with small steel cages stacked on prime of each other.

The paperwork embody the contracts between Neuralink and UC Davis which said that the college could be paid $796,006 for the primary spherical of testing from July 2017 to July 2018.

In chilling element, one invoice said the bills included $11,870.40 on buying three animals and $14,349.12 on the surgical procedure.

In the feedback part UC Davis remarked that there could be ’16 hour terminal surgical procedure’ and that the necropsy would require ‘night / OT expenses’, apparently that means extra time expenses for workers.

The doc was signed by Ahmad Hakim-Elahi, the chief director of the analysis administration at UC Davis.

Among the others who’re named within the paperwork is Dr. John Morrison, a professor of neurology.

The whole quantity that Neuralink paid seems to be effectively above $1million.

An electronic mail dated January 26, 2021 from AnnMarie Boyland, the director of administration and operations at UC Davis, states that the school had a ‘max settlement’ with Neuralink of $1,296,006.

However there have been extra invoices: one for $487,207 and a subsequent one for $186,034, making a complete of $1,969,247.

According to the recordsdata, the monkeys examined at UC Davis have been cut up into 4 teams, the primary of which ‘is not going to be allowed to surgically get better (terminal process)’.

‘The overarching purpose will probably be to behaviorally program implanted animals and take a look at take efficiency outputs in preconditioned monkeys’, the file states.

The animals could be ready for surgical procedure by being given medication like valium and fentanyl and anesthetics, after which an incision as much as 10cm lengthy will probably be made on their scalps.

The tips admit that the match for every implant ‘will not be excellent’ and that bone screws could be used to anchor it in place.

Among the assessments that have been performed have been behavioral coaching which mapped neural exercise to what the monkey was doing.

The animals would attain to particular places with their arms or do brief time period reminiscence workout routines which might be bolstered utilizing treats, that are described as a ‘slurry of blended monkey biscuits’ or different treats.

A protocol for ‘animal use and care’ which expired in July 2021 said that the animals could also be compelled to take a seat in a ‘chair’ – which is outlined as a ‘plastic box- which forces them to take a seat in an upright place.

The doc notes that if the animal will not put its head by the neck plate of the field chair they needed the choice to sedate the creature and it’s given a collar to maintain it in place.

In a disturbing passage, the doc states: ‘Animals will probably be chair restrained for a most of 5 hours over the course of a single day. They could also be chair restrained a number of instances in a single day. Chair restraint could also be carried out day-after-day, together with weekends’.

A request to amend the common protocol from July 2019 famous that the implant was roughly the dimensions of 1 / 4 coin, or 22.5mm in diameter.

It could be anchored to the monkey’s cranium utilizing ‘bone screws, dental acrylic and/or different authorised supplies.’

The request states: ‘The system is designed to take a seat flush inside the bone of a typical human cranium so we count on it to protrude barely when implanted into the macaque cranium.

‘Option to cowl with acrylic: As our purpose is a completely subcutaneous implant, we intend to make use of pores and skin closure over the implant. However, it will not be potential to shut the pores and skin over the system with out unacceptable tenting and/or danger of pores and skin erosion, and we could, as a final resort, type a percutaneous acrylic implant over the system utilizing authorised supplies and technique’.

A observe from the identical month addressed the problem of utilizing Bioglue on one monkey.

It said: ‘At the time of pores and skin closing the lead surgeon had issues in regards to the void in between the 2 implants and utilized Bioglue to fill the useless house in between the implants on midline.

‘According to protocol, Bioglue and bacitracin weren’t listed for authorised use. The protocol is a composite of a earlier withdrawn protocol and miscellaneous amendments. One previous modification addressed the antagonistic impact of Bioglue coming in touch with an animal topic’s mind floor.

‘The preventative motion arising from this occasion was to discontinue the usage of Bioglue’.

The doc notes that the lead surgeon ‘didn’t understand’ that they may not use Bioglue and that workers have been being retrained to not use it sooner or later.

Under ‘potential antagonistic results, a March 2021 electronic mail reads that the bone screws will result in a ‘variety of holes within the skull’ of the monkeys.

The needle utilized by the robotic which was used to insert threads into the implant ‘might break and go away shards within the mind’, the doc notes.

Perhaps probably the most disturbing paperwork of all are the demise reviews for every monkey.

One monkey referred to as ‘Animal 8’ had ‘a number of digit ideas amputated’ and had ‘diarrhea within the first yr of life’, the notes state.

In addition, the creature underwent a vasectomy.

A report states {that a} ‘burr gap’ was made in its head till the mind was uncovered, the implant was put in and examined then the creature was euthanized.

‘Animal 4’, an 11-year-old macaque monkey, was on antidepressants earlier than being put down in July 2018.

UC Davis noticed the animal ‘hunching’ and searching ‘torpid’.

Staff anticipated the monkey to reside lower than one month after one process, nonetheless it lived one other seven months.

Another monkey, referred to as ‘Animal 5’ was noticed having ‘patchy alopecia’ and vital hair loss.

A worse destiny awaited a monkey referred to as ‘Animal 6’ which underwent a extremely invasive process in October 2018 by which workers drilled holes in its cranium and put electrodes on the creature’s mind.

Two months later the world across the implant turned contaminated that means lab workers had to make use of ‘copious quantities’ of antibiotics to scrub it.

Other monkeys have been seen to have interaction in self mutilating conduct or had a number of seizures.

The file is much from the primary time that Neuralink has come below fireplace for its remedy of take a look at animals.

In December 2022, Reuters reported that the corporate was below investigation by the USDA and the Department of Justice for animal welfare violations.

That month members of Congress wrote to the USDA to lift issues about animal welfare at Neuralink.

Additional data obtained by PCRM in February final yr that UC Davis could have breached federal regulation by transporting infectious pathogens with out safely packaging them.

This month it emerged that the Department of Transport fined Neuralink for breaches of federal hazardous supplies legal guidelines in relation to the claims made by PCRM.

Neuralink was additionally within the headlines when it emerged that Musk had fathered two youngsters with Shivon Zilis, an government with the corporate.

DailyMail.com has contacted UC Davis and Neuralink for remark.

Neuralink has beforehand mentioned that it’s ‘completely dedicated to working with animals in probably the most humane and moral approach potential’.

UC Davis has mentioned that it ‘follows all relevant legal guidelines and rules’.

The faculty has refused to launch 371 images of the monkeys it experimented on for Neuralink.