Lawmaker demands answers from FDA on Neuralink animal testing

A U.S. lawmaker wants the Food and Drug Administration to explain why it let Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink go forward with human trials despite its shaky record with animal testing.

In a letter to the FDA Monday, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Oregon Democrat, expressed concerns with those tests. He said the rushed nature of the experiments led to the needless suffering of animals and compromised the data that led to the company’s approval for human trials.

“These alleged failures to follow standard operating procedures potentially endangered animal welfare and compromised data collection for human trials,” Mr. Blumenauer wrote.

The congressman’s letter follows an FDA report from June that found the company failed to keep valid records of its experiments. The report, conducted less than a month after the company received approval to begin human testing from the agency, found that in several cases Neuralink failed to provide documentation on important aspects of the experiments and didn’t correctly calibrate many of its instruments.

He has asked the FDA to explain why it approved Neuralink for human trials despite these findings.

The FDA could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Blumenauer and seven other lawmakers sent a letter to the Agriculture Department and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in May urging the agencies to investigate Neuralink for possible conflicts of interest in its oversight board.

According to reports, over 1,500 animals have died while under Neuralink’s care. Mr. Musk has brushed off accusations of animal cruelty at his company, saying none has died as a direct result of testing because the firm selected terminally ill subjects for the process.

The letter comes one week after Neuralink released video evidence of the first human test subject using the company’s brain implant. In a live stream, quadriplegic patient Noland Arbaugh played chess with only his thoughts. While he said the technology wasn’t perfect, it has changed his life.

Neuralink, alongside other computer brain interface companies like Blackrock Neurotech and Synchron, hopes the implants will eventually be used to treat neurological diseases and help disabled people.