[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2481 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2481

To provide funding for an examination of the possible health effects of 
exposure to depleted uranium of United States military personnel in the 
                           Persian Gulf War.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 1993

 Mr. Evans (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Gutierrez, Mr. Clement, and 
  Mr. Buyer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide funding for an examination of the possible health effects of 
exposure to depleted uranium of United States military personnel in the 
                           Persian Gulf War.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Persian Gulf War Radiation Research 
Act''.

SEC. 2. GRANT TO SUPPORT DEPLETED URANIUM STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall make a grant of 
$1,600,000 annually for fiscal years 1994 through 1998 to an 
institution selected through established acquisition procedures for the 
purpose of studying the possible health effects of battlefield exposure 
to depleted uranium, including exposure through ingestion, inhalation, 
or bodily injury.
    (b) Funding Source.--Funding for the grant under subsection (a) 
shall be made from amounts appropriated to the Department of Defense 
for fiscal years 1994 through 1998 for research, development, test, and 
evaluation.

SEC. 3. RESEARCH PROGRAM.

    Research to be conducted at the facility for which a grant is made 
under subsection (a) shall explore the possible health effects of 
exposure to depleted uranium, including exposure through ingestion, 
inhalation, or bodily injury, and the individual susceptibility of 
service personnel to such exposure. Such research shall focus on (but 
not be limited to) persons who may have been exposed to depleted 
uranium while serving on active duty in the theater of operations 
during the Persian Gulf War. The specific objectives of the study shall 
include--
            (1) assessment of the toxico-kinetic properties of the 
        various chemical forms of depleted uranium that could be 
        inhaled, ingested, or imbedded;
            (2) examination of whether there are depleted uranium 
        cancer induction mechanisms similar to those observed in 
        Thorotrast-specific liver cancers;
            (3) determination of whether the radiogenic effects noted 
        in paragraphs (1) and (2) occur and if so, at what fragment 
        densities and latent periods;
            (4) assessment of long-term, low-dose-rate irradiation of 
        specific tissues, such as those of the nervous system;
            (5) determination of the potential for chronic 
        nephrotoxicity as a function of the organ exposed to depleted 
        uranium; and
            (6) conduct of pathological studies of tissue surrounding 
        depleted uranium particles.

SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    The Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress an annual report 
in fiscal years 1995 through 1999 on activities under this Act during 
the preceding year.

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