On 24-25 June, Ronald Atlas, cochair of the ASM Public and Scientific Affairs Board Committee on Biodefense, participated in the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities professional development conference for Institutional Biosafety Committees, entitled "Promoting Optimal Practice Now and In the Future."

Ronald Atlas, cochair of the ASM Public and Scientific Affairs Board Committee on Biodefense, participated in the 23 June public consultation meeting held by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to discuss proposed changes to the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules.

On 16 July, scientific and health organizations, including ASM, sent a letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee thanking them for making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a priority and providing an increase of $942 million for NIH in the FY 2010 budget.

ASM submitted comments to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on its draft guideline, "Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections, 2008."

On 23 July, ASM submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding its draft Revised State Operations Manual, Appendix C-Survey Procedures and Interpretive Guidelines for Laboratories and Laboratory Services.