USDA found Neuralink to be in compliance with animal safety and welfare standards after an isolated incident of using an unapproved sealant to close a monkey’s skull in a surgery triggered an investigation. FDA granted a request to begin testing it’s implant device in humans.
July 19 (Reuters) — The head of the U.S. agency responsible for animal welfare has told lawmakers that it did not find any violations of animal research rules at Elon Musk’s Neuralink beyond a 2019 incident the brain implant company had already reported.
Officials with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducted a “focused” inspection in response to a complaint about the company’s handling of animal experiments, but identified no compliance breaches, the agency’s secretary Thomas Vilsack wrote to Congressman Earl Blumenauer in a July 14 letter reviewed by Reuters.
The inspection included visits at Neuralink’s two facilities in January 2023, Vilsack wrote, adding that there would be more inspections.