US lawmakers have urged regulators to look into Elon Musk’s brain-chip business Neuralink to ascertain if there’s any case of botched and rushed trials.
According to Blumenauer’s office, U.S. House Representatives Earl Francis Blumenauer and Adam Schiff, both Democrats, have signed a draught letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture demanding an investigation into how Neuralink handled its studies.
The lawmakers hope to send the draught to the USDA on Monday after sharing it with their colleagues to garner more signatures.
According to the complaint, they are responding to a Reuters story published on May 4 that disclosed that Neuralink staffed its supervisory board with business workers who stand to earn financially if the start-up receives regulatory approval for its revolutionary brain device.
Federal investigations have already been launched into Neuralink. According to Reuters, the USDA’s Inspector General is looking into suspected violations of the Animal Welfare Act, which controls how researchers treat and test certain types of animals, at the request of a federal prosecutor.
Neuralink has been attempting to obtain authorization to proceed to human trials after a previous attempt was rejected by the Food and Drug Administration last year due to safety concerns.