Doctors suing university to release photos of monkeys used in experiments with Elon Musk's Neuralink

A physician's group is suing a major American university in order to force it to release photographs that allegedly depict monkeys who have undergone severe brain experiments in order to test the technology behind Elon Musk's neurotechnology company Neuralink. 

Neuralink is seeking to develop technology to insert probes into brains that will be able to utilize electrical signals within the brain matter in order to effectively interface with the subject's consciousness. 

In a press release this week, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said it had sued the University of California, Davis, "for refusing to release photographs and videos of the experiments" undertaken by Neuralink in university facilities on monkey subjects. 

"According to university veterinary records, Neuralink experimenters cut holes in monkeys’ skulls to implant electrodes in the animals’ brains as part of the company’s work on a 'brain-machine interface'," the group claimed.

The university purportedly possesses nearly 200 photographs of the experiments. The PCRM said that hundreds of pages of university records "showed monkeys suffering from chronic infections, seizures, paralysis, and painful side effects following experiments by Neuralink."

“These photos are public records created with public funds, and the public deserves access to the research they paid for,” Deborah Dubow Press, an attorney with the physician's group, said in the release.