Elon Musk’s brain startup Neuralink is being investigated for possible “dangerous pathogens”.

The group alleged that Neuralink stole and transported potentially contaminated devices from diseased primates in 2019 without following proper procedures. The organization cites emails obtained via public record request showing correspondence between Neuralink employees and staff at the University of California, Davis. At the time, Neuralink had contracted with UC Davis for primate research. It now has its own in-house primate facility.

The Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the Transportation Department, said it takes the allegations seriously. “We are conducting an investigation to ensure Neuralink is in full compliance with federal regulations and is protecting its workers and the public from potentially dangerous pathogens,” the agency said in a statement.

Neuralink officials did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters previously reported news of the investigation.

The animal rights group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Thursday that Neuralink had engaged in “shoddy, unsafe laboratory practices.”

A device made from the brain of a monkey killed in March 2019 may have been transported without a Neuralink following proper procedures, the group claimed, potentially risking transmission of a deadly herpes virus. The report also alleged that in April 2019, three devices that had been used in monkey brains before being removed and relocated were recovered at the university’s primate center in an open box with no secondary containers, in violation of the represents regulations.

“This is an exposure for anyone coming into contact with the contaminated explanted hardware, and we are making a big deal of it because we are concerned for people’s safety,” a Primate Center worker wrote in an E -Mail.