[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2419 Introduced in House (IH)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2419
To require the Secretary of Defense to establish a medical surveillance
system to identify members of the Armed Forces exposed to chemical
hazards resulting from the disposal of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan,
to prohibit the disposal of waste by the Armed Forces in a manner that
would produce dangerous levels of toxins, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 14, 2009
Mr. Bishop of New York (for himself and Ms. Shea-Porter) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Defense to establish a medical surveillance
system to identify members of the Armed Forces exposed to chemical
hazards resulting from the disposal of waste in Iraq and Afghanistan,
to prohibit the disposal of waste by the Armed Forces in a manner that
would produce dangerous levels of toxins, 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 ``Military Personnel War Zone Toxic
Exposure Prevention Act''.
SEC. 2. IDENTIFICATION OF HEALTH EFFECTS RELATED TO HAZARDOUS DISPOSAL
SITE.
(a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Defense shall establish and
administer a system to identify members of the Armed Forces who were
potentially exposed to a hazardous disposal site and any negative
health effects that may be related to such exposure. The Secretary
shall administer such system using existing medical surveillance
systems.
(b) Notification.--If the Secretary learns that a member of the
Armed Forces was potentially exposed to a hazardous disposal site, the
Secretary shall--
(1) give notice of the potential exposure to--
(A) the member;
(B) the commanding officer of the unit to which the
member belonged at the time of potential exposure; and
(C) in the case of a member of the National Guard,
the Adjutant General of the State concerned; and
(2) inform the member that the member may be included in
the system required by subsection (a).
(b) Registration.--For each member of the Armed Forces notified of
a potential exposure under subsection (b), the Secretary shall collect
information for purposes of the system required by subsection (a). Such
information shall include--
(1) the locations that the member was deployed, including
dates of such deployment;
(2) the approximate distance of the living and working
quarters of the member from a hazardous disposal site;
(3) the types of materials disposed of at the site;
(4) the length of time the member was exposed to such site;
(5) any symptoms experienced by the member while deployed;
(6) any symptoms the member experiences at the time of
submitting such information to the Secretary; and
(7) other information the Secretary considers appropriate.
(c) Examination.--Not later than 30 days after the date on which
the Secretary learns that a member of the Armed Forces was potentially
exposed to a hazardous disposal site, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary shall--
(1) provide such member--
(A) a complete physical examination; and
(B) consultation and counseling with respect to the
results of such physical examination; and
(2) ensure that documentation of the potential exposure is
placed in the medical record of the member maintained by the
Department of Defense.
(d) Proposed Capabilities.--
(1) Sufficiency.--The Secretary shall determine if existing
medical surveillance systems are sufficient to identify all
potential negative health effects resulting from exposure to a
hazardous disposal site.
(2) Report.--Not later than six months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to
Congress a report with any recommendations to change existing
medical surveillance systems in order to improve the
identification of negative health effects resulting from
exposure to a hazardous disposal site.
(e) Annual Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committees on
Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report
describing--
(1) the status of implementing the system required by
subsection (a); and
(2) the incidences of illnesses among members of the Armed
Forces notified under subsection (b) and whether such illnesses
may have been caused by exposure to a hazardous disposal site.
(f) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) The term ``existing medical surveillance systems''
means medical surveillance systems and other data in the
possession of the Secretary as of the date of the enactment of
this Act.
(2) The term ``exposure to a hazardous disposal site''
includes the following:
(A) Exposure to the fumes emanating from a
hazardous disposal site for--
(i) more than one year if the member of the
Armed Forces was deployed to a military
installation that made use of open pits to burn
waste; or
(ii) any period of time when exposure to
such fumes was intensive.
(B) A situation where a member of the Armed Forces
with service-related health problems demonstrates
significant exposure to fumes emanating from a
hazardous disposal site.
(3) The term ``hazardous disposal site'' means a location
where hazardous methods of disposing of mass amounts of waste
were used during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operations Iraqi
Freedom, including the use of open pits to burn waste.
(4) The term ``member of the Armed Forces'' includes former
members of the Armed Forces.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON DISPOSAL OF WASTES IN A MANNER THAT PRODUCES
DANGEROUS LEVELS OF TOXINS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Defense shall prohibit the
disposal of waste during contingency operations lasting more than six
months in a manner that exposes members of the Armed Forces or civilian
employees of the Department of Defense to the following:
(1) Environmental toxins, including dioxin, benzene, and
other carcinogens.
(2) Combinations of toxins that may lead to long-term
negative health effects.
(3) Low levels of toxins that exceed military exposure
guidelines for exposures of over one year.
(b) Regulations.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe
regulations to carry out this section.
(c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report
on the status of waste disposal techniques used by members of the Armed
Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, including, for each military
department, an assessment of the compliance with the regulations
required under this section.
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