Neuralgi: Elon Musk‘s brain-implementation business Neuralink is facing a complaint from a previous worker who alleges she was forced to work with primates carrying the Herpes B virus in unsafe problems and eventually fired after announcing her conception. The problem, filed on Friday in a California state judge, adds to growing scrutiny of the bank’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 directors 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 gloves, and in another event, she was scratched on her face. The company reportedly threatened” serious implications” when she sought medical attention for these accidents.
Short is suing Neuralink for retribution, unjust termination, and sex discrimination, among other claims. She also contends that the firm broke its promise to have flexible work hours in order to support her family and demoted her two weeks after receiving a promotion in May 2023.
Neuralink did not respond to a request for comment right away. The business has previously been criticized for treating pets during studies, and it is in the early phases of clinical trials for its head implant intended to assist paralyzed patients.
According to Reuters, Neuralink has faced a national investigation over possible creature- security breaches. The US Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General initiated the investigation after receiving inner complaints that Musk’s pressure on growth had resulted in rushed and botched pet tests that caused unnecessary pain and deaths. The research, 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, a group, accused Neuralink and UC Davis of using invalid surgical 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 criticized using animals in research, but he has also stressed the need for quick advances in developing technology that might be useful to people with severe disability.
In order to fully address issues raised in previous experiments, Neuralink has used many aspects of its technology in a row, which has resulted in frequent tests and more animal deaths. Current and former workers have expressed concerns about the integrity of the data and the company’s research techniques ‘ ethical implications as a result of this process.
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.
The legal and ethical issues that Neuralink is currently facing highlight the wider 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.
