Links to Other ASM Pages:
Public Affairs Report
ASM Testifies Before FDA Advisory Committee on Rapid HIV Tests
Food and Drug Administration Blood Products Advisory Committee
Blood Products Advisory Committee
Formal presentations made at the BPAC meeting
On 14 June, Ronald J. Zabransky, member of the Public and Scientific Affairs Board (PSAB) Laboratory Practices Committee, delivered ASM comments to the Food and Drug Administration's Blood Products Advisory Committee (BPAC) regarding the issue of waiving rapid HIV tests from certain requirements of the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA). ASM's statement, which was drafted by the PSAB Professional Affairs Committee and Laboratory Practices Committee, noted the increasing worldwide pandemic of HIV infection and the need to reach new populations at risk through the development and licensing of rapid, sensitive, and specific diagnostic tests for HIV infection. ASM stated its concern about placing HIV rapid tests in the waiver category because this category of tests lacks quality control and oversight, proficiency testing, confirmatory testing, and personnel standards required in performing laboratory tests such as those for detecting HIV. CLIA requirements for moderate and high complexity categories include measures to ensure safe and accurate testing. ASM added that erroneous diagnostic test results would have catastrophic consequences for patients and the spread of HIV. The BPAC voted against waiver status for HIV rapid tests.
ASM Urges Congress To Increase USGS Funding
U.S. Geological Surveys Fiscal Year 2002 Budget
On 22 June, ASM sent letters to the Senate leadership and members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior and other key members of Congress and the administration urging them to join the House of Representatives in restoring a budget cut of $70 million and increasing the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) budget by $18 million over the fiscal year (FY) 2001 level of $883 million. ASM encouraged Congress to strengthen funding for the USGS, which is the Department of Interior's lead science agency supporting the biological and environmental sciences. The administration proposed a 22% reduction for the USGS in its FY 2002 budget proposal in April. ASM's statement to Congress described the significant contribution of USGS research to the biological sciences and to the understanding of microbes as agents of geochemical change and of disease in wildlife and humans. ASM's letter can be found on the Public Affairs web page.
ASM Endorses Bill To Improve Scientific Review at the EPA
Environment, Technology & Standards Subcommittee Hearings for the 107th Congress
ASM sent a letter to Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) on 12 June endorsing legislation introduced on 17 May to address the role science plays in regulatory decisions at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Strengthening Science at the Environmental Protection Agency Act (H.R. 64) implements two recommendations of the National Research Council (NRC) report (Strengthening Science at the Environmental Protection Agency) on the use and practice of science within the EPA. The first recommendation will establish a Deputy Administrator for Science and Technology position at the EPA, which will coordinate scientific research and its application among the regulatory arms of the agency. H.R. 64 will also increase the term length for the head of the Office of Research and Development (ORD) to five years. The five-year term is expected to improve the continuity of scientific review, and allow the head of ORD to focus on the science conducted at the agency across changing administrations. Congressman Ehlers, chair of the House Science Committee's Environment, Technology & Standards Subcommittee, wrote to ASM on 31 May to request ASM's support for this legislation. Congressman Ehlers expects to bring the legislation before the entire House Science Committee sometime in July.
Report on Salaries of Scientists Engineers, and Technicians Published
Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology
The Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) has published the 19th edition of Salaries of Scientists, Engineers, and Technicians - A Summary of Salary Surveys. The report is a collection of more than 50 survey reports with information on salaries in industry, government, and educational institutions with breakouts by field, degree, experience, age, discipline, employment category, geographical area, and rank/grade for academics or government employees. The report can be purchased from the CPST on their website . ASM is a member organization of CPST and supports its activities. For more information contact the CPST at (202) 326-7080 or by fax at (202) 842-1603.
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