The Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Applied Biotreatment Association (ABTA)announced their merger, effective July 1. The two associations first approached each otherabout merging several weeks ago, Eric Christensen, director of communications at BIO, toldBioWorld.

“This is the natural next step for BIO, said Carl Feldbaum, the association'spresident. “Bioremediation will be vital to environmental cleanup, includingsuperfund sites in the U.S., and has great promise for areas of Eastern Europe and theformer Soviet Union. Bringing ABTA into BIO, we can now speak for a fast-emerging elementof our industry.“