The complaint was made by the United States Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and asks government entities to investigate Neuralink .
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine ( PCRM ) has written a letter to the US Department of Transportation against Neuralink , Elon Musk ‘s startup seeking to create a brain-computer interface, they say it shows a potentially illegal movement of dangerous pathogens.
The letter, seen by Reuters , says Neuralink moves implants taken from monkey brains, which may have transmitted infectious diseases in violation of federal law.
Neurolink in trouble again
According to the complaint, the records showed pathogens such as antibiotic-resistant staph and herpes B viruses, which may have been transported without proper containment measures.
The PCRM also noted that the pathogens were carried on implants removed after inadequate disinfection and packaging. This could cause serious health problems in infected humans, such as bloodstream infections, pneumonia, and severe brain damage.
The incidents involving potential violations of hazardous materials transportation regulations occurred in 2019, when Neuralink relied on the University of California, Davis , to help carry out its experiments on primates, according to the cited documents .
Although said cooperation ended in 2020, PCRM noted that Elon Musk ‘s company continues to employ the neurosurgeon who supervised the experiments.
It is not the first complaint
PCRM has raised concerns about Neuralink in the past. Last year, he wrote to federal officials about alleged animal welfare problems during the research partnership with UC Davis, citing another set of records he obtained.
In December, the outlet also reported that Neuralink is under federal investigation for possible animal welfare violations and that some of its staff filed internal complaints about rushed experiments, causing them unnecessary suffering and death.