CORRECTION: This article replaces an erroneous report that Boulder had banned GMOs on public land. Multiple advisory committees issued recommendations, at least two of which were to phase out GM crops on public land. However the county commissioners voted to approve the Cropland Policy Board’s recommendation to continue to allow some GM crops. Thank you to those of you from Boulder who alerted us to the mistake.

The Boulder County commissioners voted
unanimously Tuesday to allow some genetically modified organisms to be
grown on county-owned open space land.

All three commissioners
agreed that farmers should be allowed to continue to plant corn that has
been genetically engineered to resist the herbicide glyphosate or to
resist insects. Planting GMO corn was first approved in Boulder County
in 2003.

And the commissioners supported the planting of Roundup
Ready sugar beets, which also have been modified to resist glyphosate,
the key ingredient in Roundup. But the commissioners said they would be
reticent to approve any additional glyphosate-resistant crops that may
be developed in the future.

The commissioners said they would
consider GMO crops with other traits — such as drought resistance — in
the future as they are developed.

“I don’t believe we should ban
GMOs, but I do think we need to be very careful and limited in allowing
them,” Commissioner Will Toor told the packed hearing room.

Tuesday’s vote ends a contentious public process that has dragged on for nearly three years.

The
controversy was ignited after six farmers who lease land from the
county asked for permission in December 2008 to plant Roundup Ready
sugar beets. After a summer of packed public hearings and GMO protests,
the county commissioners decided in August 2009 to delay a decision
about GMO sugar beets until the open space department could create a
comprehensive management plan for its 16,000 acres of cropland.