By the standards of the Golden LEAF Foundation, the $262,000 grant it will give backers of a controversial bio-defense lab is hardly a big deal. But it signals a major mistake in judgment.

The money, approved Tuesday, will go for advertisements, a Web site and other initiatives that lab supporters have sought for their campaign to overcome resistance to the $450 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility proposed for Granville County, near Butner.

To be sure, "overcome resistance" isn't how lab backers would put it. They say they need to counter scare tactics and misinformation from the other side. And they have a point -- some lab opponents have indeed engaged in fear-mongering, if that means emphasizing costly but unlikely worst-case scenarios in case of accidents at the proposed lab.

But exploring the cons as well as the pros is entirely justified for a facility that will specialize in exotic large-animal diseases. The arguments must remain rational, but the burden of proof lies with the lab's proponents.

Interest in safety and economic issues has been strong for months, ever since Granville County was suggested as a site for the replacement of an aging federal lab on Plum Island, New York. Now, with Granville on a national short list and the Department of Homeland Security getting closer to a decision, the stakes are especially high. And it's at this moment that Golden LEAF has leapt into the fray.

The foundation's error, at bottom, lies in deciding to support one side in a legitimate, two-sided debate. And make no mistake: Golden LEAF will be supporting one side, not the other.

A glance at sample announcements from the N.C. Consortium for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, submitted to Golden LEAF in support of the grant application, suggests the proponents' approach. It is hardly impartial. After intoning that "citizens deserve accurate information" the announcements clearly accentuate the positive. They mention no negatives.

That may be factual in a sense, but it's also classic PR spin. The implicit message is that if only folks knew the facts, they'd be on our side. The opponents, however, have their own arguments and points of emphasis. They just won't be getting $262,000 in public funds to make them.

Adding insult to injury, the side Golden LEAF has chosen -- that of institutional backers of the lab, many of them in Raleigh and RTP -- seems to be widely opposed by ordinary Granville residents. Helping residents of tobacco-growing counties such as Granville was why the foundation was formed, with money from the national tobacco settlement.

No doubt Golden LEAF has done good work in places such as Granville and will do more in the future. Right now, however, it shouldn't be taking sides. If for some reason the foundation felt a burning need to disseminate fact-based information, pro and con, it might have done so itself.

Instead, it's giving $262,000 to the bio-lab's well-connected proponents. They'll be using a Raleigh public relations agency -- to be paid more than $100,000 in public funds -- to create a PR campaign. That's unfair, unnecessary and unwise -- and it forms a dubious precedent for the foundation in future controversies.

If, in the end, Granville County wants the lab and wins it, Golden LEAF could appropriately step in to help make sure the community benefits. Until then, it should have butted out.