[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 177 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 177

 To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed 
  during military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health 
            testing of such members, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

 Mr. Serrano introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed 
  during military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health 
            testing of such members, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Depleted Uranium Screening and 
Testing Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPLETED URANIUM RISK NOTIFICATION FOR DEPLOYING FORCES.

    (a) Notification.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish 
procedures to require, as part of the procedures for preparing members 
of the Armed Forces for deployment to a theater of operations, that 
such members be notified of--
            (1) any known or likely use of depleted uranium in that 
        theater of operations (whether by forces of the United States 
        and its allies or by any opposing forces); and
            (2) any health risks associated with exposure to depleted 
        uranium.
    (b) Training.--The Secretary shall provide for training deploying 
members of the Armed Forces on the safe handling of depleted uranium 
contamination before such members are deployed to a theater in which 
depleted uranium is used.

SEC. 3. DEPLETED URANIUM SCREENING AND TESTING.

    (a) Identification and Testing Required.--The Secretary of Defense 
shall carry out a program to identify individuals who, during active 
service in the Armed Forces, are or have been exposed to depleted 
uranium and to provide those individuals with bioassay testing and 
notification of the results of such testing.
    (b) Depleted Uranium-Exposed Personnel Identification Methods.--
            (1) Procedures for identification of exposed members.--The 
        Secretary of each military department shall establish 
        procedures to identify members of the Armed Forces under the 
        Secretary's jurisdiction who are, or may have been, exposed to 
        depleted uranium. For such purpose, the Secretary shall 
        identify units and members under paragraph (2) and shall accept 
        self-identification reports by members under paragraph (3).
            (2) Identification of units and personnel.--The Secretary 
        of each military department shall identify units, and personnel 
        assigned to units, that have been, or could have been, exposed 
        to depleted uranium, based upon information about known 
        exposure events (as determined under subsection (c)).
            (3) Self reporting.--The Secretary of each military 
        department shall accept a report by an individual, or a primary 
        care provider for an individual, that the individual, while a 
        member of the Armed Forces under the Secretary's jurisdiction, 
        was, or may have been, exposed to depleted uranium based upon 
        service on active duty (or training duty or funeral honors 
        duty) in a theater of operations where depleted uranium was 
        used, including travel through such an area. The Secretary 
        shall prescribe procedures for receiving such reports. Such a 
        self-identification report submitted to the Secretary under 
        this paragraph shall be treated by the Secretary as 
        identification of the individual for purposes of this 
        subsection.
            (4) Treatment of individuals no longer on active duty.--In 
        carrying out this subsection, the Secretary of each military 
        department shall ensure that individuals no longer on active 
        duty (including members of the reserve components who have been 
        released from active duty, members who have been retired, and 
        members who have been separated from service) are treated, for 
        identification purposes, in the same manner as individuals 
        remaining on active duty.
    (c) Exposure Events.--
            (1) Types of events.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
        identify depleted uranium exposure events for purposes of this 
        section. The exposure events identified shall include the 
        following:
                    (A) Direct exposures.--An event in which an 
                individual--
                            (i) is struck by depleted uranium munitions 
                        or depleted uranium armor fragments;
                            (ii) enters, or is present within 50 meters 
                        of, a vehicle or structure with possible 
                        depleted uranium residues; or
                            (iii) breathes smoke from fires involving 
                        depleted uranium materials.
                    (B) Equipment handling exposures.--An event in 
                which an individual may inhale depleted uranium 
                compound particulates as a result of the handling of 
                equipment or wreckage that has been, or could have 
                been, contaminated with depleted uranium.
                    (C) Other exposures.--Other significant or 
                incidental exposure events identified by the Secretary, 
                including the performance of activities in the area of 
                depleted uranium damaged vehicles or structures or the 
                traveling through or residing in any such area.
            (2) Limited retroactivity.--In addition to exposure events 
        described in paragraph (1) occurring on or after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, such events during the period 
        between January 1, 2003, and the date of the enactment of this 
        Act may be considered for purposes of this section, if reported 
        during the 60-day period beginning on the date of the enactment 
        of this Act.
    (d) Health-Care Services Required.--
            (1) Bioassay procedure.--Any individual identified under 
        subsection (b) shall be provided a health screening test by the 
        Secretary of Defense. Such test shall be carried out using a 
        bioassay procedure developed by the Secretary of Defense in 
        consultation with the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention. The same bioassay procedure shall be used for all 
        individuals identified under subsection (b) and for all types 
        of exposure or possible exposure identified under subsection 
        (c).
            (2) Time for test.--
                    (A) Exposures after enactment.--In the case of an 
                exposure event described in subsection (c) that occurs 
                on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
                bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not 
                later than 180 days after the date of the event, except 
                that in the case of an individual with an exposure 
                event described in subsection (c)(3), the bioassay 
                under paragraph (1) shall be administered not later 
                than 30 days after the end of the individual's 
                deployment in the theater of operations, but such 
                individual may be provided the bioassay earlier upon 
                the individual's request.
                    (B) Exposures before enactment.--In the case of an 
                exposure event described in subsection (c) that occurs 
                before the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
                bioassay under paragraph (1) shall be administered not 
                later than 180 days after the date of the reporting of 
                the event under subsection (c)(2).
            (3) Furnishing of results.--The Secretary of Defense shall 
        provide the results of any bioassay procedure under this 
        subsection to the individual tested, and the primary care 
        manager or primary care provider of that individual, not later 
        than 30 days after the Secretary receives those results.
    (e) Personnel Tracking.--The Secretary of each military department 
shall establish procedures for collecting, tracking, and maintaining 
information on the health status of individuals tested under subsection 
(d) for the purpose of assessing any long-term health consequences of 
exposure to depleted uranium.
    (f) Independent Review of Bioassay Types and Contamination 
Thresholds.--The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention shall conduct an independent review of bioassay types and 
contamination thresholds for purposes of the testing under subsection 
(d).
    (g) Treatment.--Based on the results of the bioassay tests, the 
Secretary of the military department concerned shall provide 
appropriate treatment for any illness of an individual resulting from a 
depleted uranium contamination or exposure.

SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL SURVEY AND REPORT ON RADIOISOTOPE 
              IDENTIFICATION EQUIPMENT USED BY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE.

    (a) Survey.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a survey of 
radioisotope identification equipment used by the Department of Defense 
in order to assess the capability of Department of Defense facilities 
to identify concentrations of different radioisotopes in naturally 
occurring levels of uranium.
    (b) Report.--The Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a 
report on the results of the survey under subsection (a) not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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