Legal and health implications surrounding the link between the living conditions of farm animals and possible human health risks will be examined at a special symposium, The 21st Century Farm Animal: Legal Perspectives on Animal Welfare, Human Health, and Regulation, Wednesday, Oct. 20 from 12 to 4 p.m. in the Moot Court Room at C-M College of Law, Cleveland State University, 1801 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.

Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, John Sproat, environmental attorney, and Dr. Pamela A. Popper, executive director of The Wellness Forum will examine an aspect of the problems created by the rise of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO), known for the intense confinement of farm animals in unhygienic living conditions.

The practice has raised ethical issues about the treatment of farm animals, but such facilities also increase the risks of food-borne illness, antibiotic resistance and various ailments related to the environmental damage that necessarily follows from CAFO operations. These increased risks have bolstered the movement for legislation to regulate the treatment of animals raised for food. The speakers will discuss the current legal landscape and potential options for legislative reform.

The event is sponsored by the Journal of Law and Health. It is open to the public and offers three free hours of continuing legal education credit for members of the Ohio Bar.

About Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, founded in 1897 as the Cleveland Law School, was the first law school in Ohio to admit women and one of the first to admit minorities. In 1946, the Cleveland Law School merged with the John Marshall School of Law, founded in 1916, to become the Cleveland-Marshall Law School. In 1969, the Law School joined Cleveland's new public university as its sixth college and was renamed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law of Cleveland State University. Early graduates of the College of Law laid the foundation for the legal profession in Northeast Ohio. Now in its 113th year, Cleveland-Marshall prepares promising students to be America's leaders in the 21st century in law, business, non-profit agencies and government.

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