© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Neuralink emblem and Elon Musk picture are seen on this illustration taken, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photograph
By Marisa Taylor
(Reuters) – 4 U.S. lawmakers have requested the Securities and Trade Fee to research whether or not Elon Musk dedicated securities fraud by allegedly deceptive buyers in regards to the security of a mind implant being developed by the billionaire’s agency Neuralink, based on a letter to the regulator.
The request for an inquiry got here from Democratic Home Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, and Barbara Lee and Tony Cardenas of California, based on the letter despatched to the SEC on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters.
Scrutiny over Neuralink’s dealing with of security protocols comes as the corporate prepares to check the mind implant in people for the primary time, a essential milestone for the startup’s ambitions to assist sufferers overcome paralysis and a number of neurological situations.
The letter cites veterinary data obtained from Neuralink experiments in monkeys that point out the animals suffered “debilitating health effects” from the implants, together with paralysis, seizures and mind swelling.
No less than 12 younger and wholesome monkeys have been euthanized “as a direct result of problems with the company’s implant,” the letter stated.
But Musk, Neuralink’s CEO, downplayed investor issues in regards to the outcomes of its animal testing, the letter stated.
Musk wrote that “no monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant,” in a submit to his social media website, X, on Sept. 10. He added that the corporate selected “terminal” monkeys to attenuate danger to wholesome ones.
Neuralink didn’t reply to requests for touch upon the letter to the SEC.
Blumenauer and different lawmakers wrote to the SEC that proof they’ve reviewed exhibits that the demise of animals in Neuralink experiments “relate directly to the safety and marketability of Neuralink’s brain-computer interface.”
Consequently, Musk’s assertion “may have violated” SEC guidelines in denying a connection, the lawmakers wrote.
Final yr, Neuralink workers instructed Reuters that the corporate was dashing and botching surgical procedures on monkeys, pigs and sheep, leading to extra animal deaths than crucial.
Reuters discovered that the push for velocity got here from Musk, who pressured employees to offer the protection information required by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to authorize human testing.
In Could, Neuralink introduced it had obtained FDA clearance for its first-in-human medical trial, with out disclosing particulars of the deliberate research.
