The animal welfare committee on Elon Musk’s Neuralink may have reportedly been staffed by company insiders. 19 of the 22 board members were also employees of Neuralink by the end of 2022. While this is unusual and prohibited under certain circumstances, it could also create a conflict of interest as employees at the brain implant company could potentially benefit financially from the progress, Reuters reports. Neuralink is testing the brain-computer interfaces on animals and later wants to research them on humans.
Conflicts of interest in compliance with animal welfare regulations
Such animal protection panels are required by US federal law when experimenting on certain types of animals. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is required for ethical review and animal welfare compliance at any research facility that conducts animal testing in the United States. The IACUC is appointed by the person responsible for the respective research institution and reports directly to the CEO on compliance with the regulations.
However, the composition of Neuralink raises questions about potential violations of conflict of interest rules, according to animal research and bioethics experts. At the end of 2022, 19 of the 22 members of the Research Animal Compliance Committee were on the company’s payroll, according to the report. According to company documents viewed by Reuters, the panel was chaired by a Neuralink executive who oversees the animal’s care program — and eleven other members were directly involved in animal care or research.
Aim: Experiments on humans
Conducting animal brain chip experiments is important to Neuralink and a prerequisite for government approval for human experimentation. Musk has since expanded on his original plans to give people with paralysis the power to control computers and lead independent lives with the help of a brain implant. In the future, the brain-computer interface will “treat a wide range of neurological disorders and restore sensory and motor functions”. Musk is also convinced that people’s brains will have to become more powerful in the future so that people can cope with artificial intelligence (AI) and “keep up”, so it also targets neurologically healthy people.
With a permit for experiments on humans – which is not yet available – the value of the company would consequently increase. According to the report, the compensation of some Neuralink employees consists of both a salary and shares – this has also been confirmed by reviews of job advertisements and statements by former employees. According to people familiar with the matter, if approved and given (better) ratings for testing people, senior executives could make millions with their shares. Neuralink shareholders would also make big profits. It is currently valued at over $1 billion.
Too slow and too bureaucratic
Neuroscientist and physician, Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, has been researching brain implants at Duke University for almost three decades. The members of his IACUC have never played a role in research, animal testing, or animal care. Independence is critical to protecting the integrity of animal research, which could impact future human clinical trials. The composition of the Neuralink committee represents an “obvious conflict of interest” for him. It is not unusual for companies to outsource animal testing and their monitoring to universities in order to avoid conflicts of interest.
Neuralink originally partnered with the University of California, Davis to conduct the animal testing from 2017 to 2020. reports Reuters further. Later, Elon Musk considered the university’s procedures to be too slow and bureaucratic and consequently left the university after a dispute. A spokesman for UC-Davis told Reuters that an animal welfare incident was identified in 2019 and a change to research protocols was ordered. In 2020, Neuralink took over the research and monitoring itself. The university received a total of $1.9 million from Neuralink.
No funding due to “public oversight”
The US Department of Health, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s largest public funders supporting biomedical research, has itself approached Neuralink for grants in the past. However, Musk wanted to avoid “public oversight” and rejected it. The NIH prohibits IACUC members from receiving income or stock from a research sponsor.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the lead agency for enforcing animal welfare regulations. However, former USDA employees have described the enforcement of conflicts of interest rules as lax. USDA regulations prohibit IACUC members from engaging in the “review or approval of any activity in which the member has a conflict of interest.” However, these regulations are not clearly defined and the authority would only rarely find conflicts in the context – unless an IACUC member votes for approval of a specific test, which they also direct as an employee of a company.
authority is investigating itself
Conflicts of interest (which Neuralink is also accused of) by the IACUC are also generally prohibited or avoided in animal experiments at universities, research institutes and in many companies. The Office of Inspector General of the USDA, which is investigating a potential animal welfare violation, is also reportedly investigating its own agency’s shoddy enforcement of the US Animal Welfare Act, along with the Department of Justice.
The composition of Neuralink’s IACUC panel may have changed after 2022, according to Reuters. Neither Elon Musk nor Neuralink responded to inquiries.
(bme)
