Testimony Before the Boulder County Commission on Biotechnology Crops

On December 8, 2011, Senior Fellow Val Giddings presented testimony at a public hearing held by the Boulder County Commission, on a proposal to ban crops improved through biotechnology from being grown on approximately 17,000 acres of County green-space land. Boulder County has been a national leader in land use planning, and preserving Front Range green space for multiple uses has been a high priority from the beginning. Boulder is also a seething hotbed of devotion to organic foods and production techniques. The county is home to as many as six nationwide organic chains, one of which (Aurora Dairy) is reportedly the principal instigator and financial sponsor behind the drive to ban "GMOs" from County lands: a move that would be bad for the land, bad for people, and bad public policy.