header-logo header-logo

NLJ this week: Neurotech & future risks in product liability

13 December 2024
Issue: 8098 / Categories: Legal News , Technology , Artificial intelligence , Consumer , Health & safety
printer mail-detail
200991
Your mind is not a kettle. Product liability and neurotechnology is the subject of Crown Office Chambers barrister Harry Lambert’s fifth article in his astonishing series on neurotech law, in this week’s NLJ.

While the Consumer Protection Act offers robust protection against defective products, ‘the rapid advancement of neurotechnology presents unprecedented challenges to this framework’, writes Lambert, founder and head of the Centre for Neurotechnology & Law. He explores three areas where the Act’s limitations become ‘starkly apparent’, for example, ‘the inherent plasticity of the brain and the consequently insidious, long-term risks of neurotechnology use, especially in children’.  

What is a ‘defect’? Due to incredible advances in neurotechnology, key legal definitions may need an update. Lambert explains the tech that exists or is on its way, and the gaps in the law arising as a result.

He writes: ‘The accumulation of micro-injuries from invasive neurostimulation may not present symptoms until significant damage occurs. The same is true of subtle neurotransmitter imbalances which may not present obvious symptoms initially, but can lead to mood disorders or cognitive dysfunction over time.’ 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll