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Dont Follow Leaders, Watch Your Parking Meters
05/01/2022
By: ZonaSur: Reina Pohl - PCRM
Neuralinks recent blog post defending its use of 23 monkeys for surgical brain implant experiments doe/’t change the horrific treatment that the public records reveal. Monkeys used by Neuralink at UC Davis did have portions of their skulls removed and devices screwed to their skulls. Neuralink did use a substance called “Bioglue,” which was not approved for use in these experiments and has been widely known to be toxic to nerve tissue since at least 2001. Bioglue came into contact with the surface of at least two monkeys brains, causing damage and hemorrhaging; one monkey suffered for days after this damage.
Neuralink claims that the animals it uses are never forced to participate in any training task, but no animal would willingly allow an experimenter to cut a hole in his skull and implant a device and the experiments protocol called for restraining monkeys against their will in a chair restraint for up to five hours per day. If an animal didnt become “acclimated” to restraint, the protocol called for a steel “head-post implant” to be fixed to the animals skull, in order to forcibly hold the animals heads in place.
In addition, Neuralinks claim that UC Davis was in compliance with federal animal welfare “standards” is demonstrably false. In 2018, while Neuralink was funding primate experiments at the university, seven infant primates at UC Davis died due to poisoning caused by the negligence of university employees. That same year, UC Davis paid a $5,000 fine to the U.S. Department of Agriculture due to its pattern of violating the federal Animal Welfare Act.
Lastly, Neuralinks statement fails to acknowledge the significant pain and distress experienced by monkeys used and killed at UC Davis. In some cases, the animals suffered for months before they were euthanized, according to veterinary records released to the Physicians Committee in 2021.
REINA POHL, PHYSICIANS COMMITTEE FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE