110 HR 6798 IH: To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a U.S. House of Representatives 2008-08-01 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6798 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 1, 2008 Mr. Kagen (for himself, Mr. McDermott, and Mr. Baca) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To amend title 38, United States Code, to establish a presumption of service connection for certain cancers occurring in veterans who served in the Republic of Vietnam and were exposed to certain herbicide agents, and for other purposes.

1.

Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1)Between 1962 and 1971, the Air Force sprayed approximately 107 million pounds of herbicides in South Vietnam for the purpose of defoliation and crop destruction. (2)It has been incontrovertibly established that exposure to Agent Orange leads to long-term, systemic health problems that can occur years after the exposure. (3)The amendments to title 38, United States Code, enacted by the Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–262) provide that a veteran does not have to demonstrate a link between a certain health condition and exposure to Agent Orange and other toxic substances used during the Vietnam War in order to receive certain medical care provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. (4)Instead medical care is provided unless the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has determined that the condition did not result from exposure to Agent Orange. (5)The Veterans’ Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–262) recognizes the Institute of Medicine as a resource by which the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should determine the association between the occurrence of a disease and Agent Orange. (6)One established standard for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to deny a presumption of service connection for a disability is that a disease shall be established by the Institute of Medicine to have limited or suggestive evidence of no association between the occurrence of the disease and exposure to herbicide. (7)Cancers of the gastrointestinal tract are recognized by the Institute of Medicine to exceed the statutory threshold for a presumption of service connection.

2.

Presumption of service connection for certain cancers associated with exposure to herbicides during the Vietnam Era

Section 1116(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph: (I)Cancers of any tissues through the opening of the gastrointestinal tract to the end, including any and all carcinomas arising from tissues of endo-dermal origin, beginning in the oral pharynx, extending through the esophagus, duodenum, cecum, transverse and descending colon, as well as biliary and pancreatic tissues, not to exclude the rectum, becoming manifest to a degree of disability of 10 percent or more. .