• FedWorld Information Network
• U.S. Federal Government Agencies Page - LSU Libraries

    The Executive Branch

• Independent Federal Agencies & Commissions
  • (includes National Science Foundation (NSF ) and the Postal Service with mail rates and ZIP+4 Lookup )
• The President's Cabinet which includes among others...
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture (which houses, among other departments, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) which regulates the importation, interstate movement, and environmental release of certain genetically engineered plants and microorganisms under the 7 Code of Federal Regulations part 340 ( 7CFR340 ). Of particular interest, are APHIS activities in regulating Agricultural Biotechnology. See their Biotechnology Evaluation and Coordination and Technical Assistance web site. See also the report entitled Appropriate Oversight for Plants with Inherited Traits for Resistance to Pests, a scientific review of a policy proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. For a layman's overview of other agencies involved in regulating biotechnology, see Iowa State University Extension Service's publication entitled Regulations of genetically engineered organisms and products. For still more information on this subject, check out the APHIS User's Guide for Introducing Genetically Engineered Plants and Microorganisms and Electronic Submission of Notifications).
  • Department of Commerce (which oversees the Bureau of the Census and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (where you can do a free patent search; Note: Patent searches back to 1976 are also available using the IBM Patent Server or MicroPatent which requires free registration. Weekly Patent class listings are available from EDS Shadow Patent Office)
  • Department of Defense (which includes the U.S. Army Research Office which has funded the National Biotechnology Information Facility.
  • Department of Energy
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Department of Treasury (which oversees the Internal Revenue Service where you can obtain U.S. tax forms and instructions.  To view downloaded tax forms, you will need Adobe Acrobat)

    The Legislative Branch

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. House and Senate email directory
  

    The Judicial Branch - Yahoo's list of sites

For updates about legislation and regulation which affects plant biologists generally, 
go to the ASPP Public Affairs web site.