Good Day BIO: Boulder County reverses policy on GE crops

Closing out the first week of the year with good news for farmers in Colorado’s Boulder County, plus a look at why we need to improve vaccine distribution if we want to improve vaccination rates. (662 words, 3 minutes, 18 seconds)

Boulder County reverses policy on GE crops 

In response to farmers’ demands, Colorado’s Boulder County will reverse a policy to phase out growth of genetically engineered (GE) corn and sugar beet crops on county-owned land.

The new policy:Adopted Dec. 7, the policy reverses a 2017 policy intended to phase out use of GE corn and sugar beets, with the goal of reducing chemical use in farming.

But GE crops may allow farmers to reduce overall herbicide and pesticide use, said Colorado State University Plant Scientist Patrick Byrnein The Colorado Sun. Newer farming methods allow for less tilling, which keeps carbon sequestered, and more than 90% of corn grown in the United States comes from GE seed. 

The policy amounts to a realization that local farmers cannot survive unless they use conventional methods on large plots, Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy said, according to The Colorado Sun: “People have this romanticized view of what farming should be. We have thousands of acres of irrigated cropland in Boulder County that are going to be farmed with row crops.” 

The background: Boulder County’s Parks & Open Space program, considered a unique model of preservation, includes 25,000 acres of county land leased to farmers. But some residents urged county officials to restrict that land to organic “heritage” farming, which farmers called impractical. In one example, a farmer grew heritage wheat on 40 acres of county land but found his supply outstripped demand for the entire state. 

A beet and barley farmer who leases in Boulder, Paul Schlagel, called a GE ban “naïve,” per The Sun. “It’s hard for people living in the city of Boulder, and even on the western side of Boulder County, to understand what real agriculture even looks like.” 

Read: GMOS and Gene Editing—Nothing to Be Afraid Of

Rethinking distribution is key to improving vaccine rates

The reaction of vaccine producers to the COVID-19 pandemic is “nothing short of historic,” says analysis published by the World Economic Forum. Now, with more than 11 billion doses produced in one year, rethinking distribution is key.

Manufacturers produced more than 11 billion vaccines last year and are on pace to achieve 19.8 billion doses by mid-2022, “which is the equivalent of 2.5 doses for every person in the world,” says the analysis, which cites the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA). G7 and EU countries will produce close to 1.4 billion surplus doses by the end of Q1 in 2022. 

The reality: Shortages say “more about distribution and the state of the pandemic after almost two years than it does about global production capacities,” continues the analysis. 

Efforts by vaccine-producing countries to share have helped—such as COVAX, which BIO supports. But fewer than 800 million doses had been donated by November 2021. 

Achieving sufficient worldwide vaccination rates requires improved distribution, BIO and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) have said. And that requires:

• political prioritization and sufficient funding, infrastructure, and human resources;
• extension of vaccine shelf life in line with studies showing vaccine stability;
• efficient regulatory approval through cooperation between WHO and individual countries;
• efforts to address vaccine hesitancy.

Trade barriers and early invocation of the U.S. Defense Production Act complicated supply chains,said BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath. While some politicians promote “bumper sticker” solutions—like the proposed waiver of WTO IP protections—IP protection actually made rapid innovation possible. 

The bottom line: “What we know is that it takes so much more than just the recipe book to get to a useful vaccine,” said Dr. Michelle. 

Watch: BIO and IFPMA’s recent press briefing on vaccine production and distribution

President Biden’s Friday: Giving a statement on the jobs report in the morning before flying to Louisville, Colorado, to tour the damage caused by the Marshall Fire and meet families impacted by the fire. A challenge to Biden’s vaccine mandates will be heard by the Supreme Court today. 

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The Senate considers Amitabha Bose’s nomination as Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration in executive session. The House is in recess.