US lawmaker comes after FDA for ignoring 'troubling evidence' about Neuralink

A letter has been sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking why the regulator didn't conduct an investigation into the company before it granted it approval for human testing.

The lawmaker is Democratic U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer, who sent a letter to the FDA on Monday claiming the regulator ignored "troubling evidence" of Elon Musk's Neuralink violating animal testing procedures. Notably, animal testing violations at Neuralink can be traced back to at least 2019, with previous reports from Reuters citing a complaint that accused Neuralink's brain implant testing on monkeys produced "recurring infections", "suffering" and significant health complications that comprised the "integrity of the research".

Back in September 2023, Neuralink founder Elon Musk responded to the allegations, saying, "No monkey has died as a result of a Neuralink implant" and that the monkeys that have died throughout testing were terminally ill and "close to death already". As for the lawmaker's letter, Blumenauer also cited Reuters reports of Neuralink employee complaints of "hack jobs" due to a rushed schedule, which resulted in needless suffering and deaths. Blumenauer has asked the FDA how it reconciled these reports, which led to Neuralink being granted approval for human trials.

"These alleged failures to follow standard operating procedures potentially endangered animal welfare and compromised data collection for human trials," wrote Blumenauer, who serves on the House Ways and Means subcommittee on health.

As for the first human trial, 29-year-old man named Nolan Arbaugh has been filmed being alive and well, praising the technology created by Neuralink as he is now able to control a PC with his thoughts, leading to long gaming sessions within Civilization IV and Mario Kart.

Read more: Neuralink unveils first brain implant patient controlling a PC with their thoughts

Read more: Gamer shown playing Mario Kart with Telepathy, Elon Musk's brain chip implant