elon musks neurotechnology company neuralink the one building a brain implant is under us government fda investigation over the trial of its brain implant on animals it has reportedly led to the death of over 1500 subjectsnot just the government but the company is also facing backlash from staff for animal welfare violations the employees complain of the animal testing being rushed causing unnecessary suffering and deathsneuralink said to have violated animal welfare actthe federal probe began in recent months by the us department of agriculture as per the sources with knowledge of the investigation the investigation focuses on transgressions of the animal welfare act which oversees how researchers treat and test some animals during an experimentreuters went through company documents including unreported messages emails and reports and also interviewed more than 20 current and former employees at neuralink to find a huge dissent on how musks pressure to accelerate development is forcing the company to repeat tests that have failed before thus increasing the number of deathsmore than 1500 animals were killed in musks race to achieve resultsso far neuralink has reportedly killed about 1500 animals including sheep pigs and monkeys since 2018 as per the records reviewed by reuters though sources familiar with the experiments say that the figure is a rough estimate as the company does not keep a precise record of the animal trialsthough the number of animal deaths does not mean that the company has been violating regulations since many other companies also use animals for research purposes and kill them afterward to examine them further it is the number of animals being killed for musks speed research that is higher than it needs to bewhat may happen to musks plan of uploading neuralink to humansit is yet to see if this investigation could hamper nueralinks plan to begin trials on humans which has already been delayed for years now at the recent show and tell event musk said that the company has submitted most of the paperwork to fda and expects the human trials to begin in about six months