- This event has passed.
Ilaria Cimadori – The global regulatory challenges around gene editing and farm animal welfare | GES Colloquium (Hybrid)
Colloquium Home | Zoom Registration | GES Video Library (current) | Video Archives | Podcast | LinkedIn | Newsletter
FALL SEMINAR SERIES
Farm animal welfare in the gene editing era: a challenge for regulations across the globe. A comparative study between the United States, the European Union and Switzerland
Biltmore 2006 + Zoom | This presentation compares how the United States, the European Union, and Switzerland regulate farm animal welfare amid emerging breeding technologies like gene editing, evaluating the strengths and gaps of their legal frameworks through an ethical animal welfare lens to identify ways to better protect animals as biotechnology advances.
This presentation examines how different legal systems (the United States, the European Union, and Switzerland) address farm animal welfare in the context of evolving breeding technologies and techniques, such as gene editing, from a legal and regulatory perspective. After outlining the welfare issues and concerns identified in scientific and ethical literature, it analyzes and compares the regulatory frameworks governing animal breeding, gene editing, and animal welfare in these jurisdictions. The goal is to assess the adequacy of those legal tools in protecting farm animals from negative welfare consequences associated with breeding goals, particularly to increase productivity.
The presentation highlights the strengths and weaknesses of both legal and, where relevant, non-legal instruments, using the “ethical animal welfare” framework, which prioritizes animal well-being for its own sake, beyond suffering and economic considerations. The presentation concludes by identifying regulatory gaps and areas for improvement, offering insights into strengthening legal tools to better safeguard animal welfare amid rapid advancements in biotechnology and breeding practices.
Related links:
- The Protection of Selectively Bred and Gene Edited Farm Animals under EU Law – Cimadori I. Di Concetto A, Grieger K. European Journal of Risk Regulation, 2025.
- Parameters, practices, and preferences for regulatory review of emerging biotechnology products in food and agriculture – Kuzma, J., Grieger, K., Cimadori, I., et al. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2023.
- Download seminar poster
Ms. Ilaria Cimadori, MA
PhD Candidate at Yale University | Profile
Ilaria is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, School of the Environment. Her current research examines the adequacy of laws and regulations in safeguarding farm animals from the impacts of breeding practices and gene editing, using a comparative legal approach. She is a fellow of the Law, Environment and Animal Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School. Ilaria holds an MA in Comparative International Relations from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy, specializing in the protection of animals in international law. During her master’s studies, she was awarded a scholarship to conduct research at Duke University, where she developed her dissertation on the protection of African elephants in international law. Passionate about advancing legal frameworks for animal protection, she aims to contribute to more effective regulations addressing the ethical challenges of evolving breeding technologies.
The Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Colloquium is a seminar series that brings in speakers to present and stimulate discussion on a variety of topics related to existing and proposed biotechnologies and their place within broader societal changes.
GES Colloquium is jointly taught by Drs. Katie Barnhill and Nourou Barry, and the seminars serve as a great opportunity for our students to build their networks and grow as professionals. To support their efforts, we encourage you to join our in-person seminars, which will now take place in Biltmore 2006.
Remember, we regularly post colloquium seminars as videos on Panopto and on our GES Lectures podcast, allowing you to revisit or catch up on these recordings at your convenience.
Please subscribe to the GES newsletter and LinkedIn for updates.
WordPress database error: [Unknown column 'wp_tec_occurrences.start_date' in 'SELECT']SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.*, CAST( wp_tec_occurrences.start_date AS DATETIME ) AS event_date
FROM wp_posts LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) LEFT JOIN wp_postmeta ON ( wp_posts.ID = wp_postmeta.post_id AND wp_postmeta.meta_key = '_EventHideFromUpcoming' ) LEFT JOIN wp_postmeta AS mt1 ON ( wp_posts.ID = mt1.post_id )
WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.ID NOT IN (21379) AND (
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (149,150,604,802)
OR
wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id IN (45,47)
) AND (
wp_postmeta.post_id IS NULL
AND
( mt1.meta_key = '_EventStartDate' AND CAST(mt1.meta_value AS DATETIME) >= '2026-01-04 22:48:28' )
) AND wp_posts.post_type IN ('post', 'page', 'attachment', 'tribe_venue', 'tribe_events', 'tribe_event_series') AND ((wp_posts.post_status = 'publish'))
GROUP BY wp_tec_occurrences.occurrence_id
ORDER BY event_date ASC, wp_posts.post_date ASC
LIMIT 0, 3