Neuralgi: Elon Musk‘s brain-implement company Neuralink is facing legal action from a previous employee who alleges she was forced to work with primates carrying the Herpes B virus in unsafe conditions and after fired after revealing her pregnancy. The problem, filed on Friday in a California state judge, adds to growing scrutiny of the agency’s treatment of animals and work methods.
The petition by Lindsay Short, a former worker at Neuralink’s Fremont, California, page, alleges that the firm created a hostile work environment filled with exaggerated dates, responsible, and bullying. According to Bloomberg, Short, who joined Neuralink in August 2022, was fired after informing her bosses of her pregnancy.
In her complaint, Short alleges that she was made to work with primates that carried the Herpes B influenza, a potentially fatal disease, without sufficient protective equipment. On one occasion, she says, a monkey scratched her through her sleeve, and in another event, she was scratched on her face. The company reportedly threatened” serious repercussions” when she sought medical attention for these accidents.
Short is suing Neuralink for retribution, unlawful termination, and sex discrimination, among other claims. She also contends that the business broke its claim to have flexible work hours in order to support her family, and otherwise demoted her two weeks after receiving a campaign in May 2023.
Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment right away. The business, which is in the early stages of clinical studies for its mind transplant designed to assist paralyzed patients, has previously received criticism for treating animals during study.
According to Reuters, Neuralink has faced a national investigation over possible pet- security breaches. The US Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General initiated the investigation after receiving inner complaints that Musk’s pressure on development had resulted in rushed and botched pet tests, which caused unnecessary pain and deaths. The analysis, reported by Reuters in December 2022, looked into breaches of the Animal Welfare Act at Neuralink’s services.
An animal freedom organization noted that Neuralink’s prior dog study included a partnership with the University of California, Davis, where officially operations on monkeys caused serious complications and deaths. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine accused Neuralink and UC Davis of using invalid clinical techniques, which caused the test animals ‘ unnecessary suffering.
Elon Musk has been known for pushing his team to move fast, often under extreme stress. People at Neuralink have reported a high-stress setting with Musk pleading for accelerated development timeframes, according to Reuters. Musk has previously expressed his disapproval of using animals in research, but he has also stressed the need for quick development in developing solutions that might be useful to people with severe disability.
Neuralink’s strategy has involved testing various aspects of its technology in a row without completely addressing issues from earlier experiments, which has resulted in frequent tests and extra animal deaths. This behavior has sparked fears among current and former personnel regarding the integrity of the research methods used by the company.
In an attempt to increase public view, Neuralink has made efforts to create better living conditions for its evaluation species, including developing infrastructure referred to privately as” Monkey Disneyland” or the “monkey Taj Mahal”, according to former workers. However, these measures have done little to mitigate the backlash against the company’s animal testing practices.
Neuralink’s ongoing legal and ethical issues highlight the larger issues that companies face in the high-stakes field of medical research, where the pressure to deliver results can occasionally conflict with ethical and regulatory standards. The scrutiny of Neuralink’s treatment of both its employees and animals is likely to rise as the company makes more effort to commercialize its brain-implant technology.
