The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink Corp., after an animal rights group said it obtained emails showing the startup did not follow proper procedures when shipping potentially hazardous materials.
The group said Neuralink took potentially contaminated devices from sick primates and transported them without following proper procedures in 2019. The organization cited emails obtained through a public records request that show correspondence between Neuralink staff and employees at the University of California at Davis. At the time, Neuralink had a contract with UC Davis for primate research. Now they have their own primate facilities at home.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the Department of Transportation, said the allegations are serious. “We are conducting investigations to ensure that Neuralink complies with federal regulations and keeps workers and the public safe from harmful pathogens,” the agency said in a statement.
A representative for Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters previously reported news of the investigation.
The animal welfare group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wrote in a letter Thursday addressed to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg that Neuralink has engaged in “unsafe and unsafe laboratory practices.”
The device from the brain of a monkey that died in March 2019 could have been transported without Neuralink using the correct procedure, the group said, potentially transmitting the deadly herpes virus. The report also said that in April 2019, three devices that had been used on the monkey’s brain before being removed and moved from the site were found again at the university’s Primate Center, in an open box without a secondary container, in violation of regulations.
“This is an exposure for anyone who comes in contact with contaminated explant hardware and we make a big deal about it because we are concerned for human safety,” wrote a Primate Center employee in an email cited in the document.
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