[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4179 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4179

  To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a presumption of 
 service connection for certain specified diseases and disabilities in 
the case of veterans who were exposed during military service to carbon 
                             tetrachloride.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 20, 2004

  Mr. Peterson of Minnesota introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide a presumption of 
 service connection for certain specified diseases and disabilities in 
the case of veterans who were exposed during military service to carbon 
                             tetrachloride.

    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 ``Veterans Carbon Tetrachloride 
Benefits Act''.

SEC. 2. PRESUMPTIONS OF SERVICE CONNECTION WITH RESPECT TO EXPOSURE TO 
              CARBON TETRACHLORIDE.

    Section 1112 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d)(1) For the purposes of section 1110 of this title, and 
subject to the provisions of section 1113 of this title, in the case of 
a veteran who served for ninety days or more in active military, naval, 
or air service and who while in such service was exposed to carbon 
tetrachloride, any disease or disability specified in paragraph (2) 
becoming manifest in such veteran shall be considered to have been 
incurred in or aggravated by such service, notwithstanding that there 
is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such 
service.
    ``(2) Diseases and disabilities referred to in paragraph (1) are 
the following:
            ``(A) Depleted vision or floater cataracts.
            ``(B) Hearing impairments such as high-pitch ringing, 
        sensitivity to loud noises, and loss of hearing.
            ``(C) Memory losses such as lapses of recall, dates, 
        numbers, and inverting numbers and letters.
            ``(D) Growths.
            ``(E) Swelling of hands or feet.
            ``(F) Aching bones or joints throughout the body (not 
        associated with arthritis).
            ``(G) Loss of hair.
            ``(H) Deterioration of nervous system.
            ``(I) Pulmonary edema.
            ``(J) Hemorrhagic congestion.''.
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