[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   AUTHORIZING VA HEALTH CARE FOR VETERANS EXPOSED TO NASOPHARYNGEAL 
                 RADIUM IRRADIATION THERAPY--H.R. 4367

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LANE EVANS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 31, 1998

  Mr. EVANS. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to 
authorize the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide health care 
treatment to veterans exposed to Nasopharyngeal Radium Irradiation 
Therapy (NRIT) and to include these veterans in its Ionizing Radiation 
Registry (IRR) Program. Joining me as original co-sponsors of the bill 
in the House are Representatives Bob Filner, Collin Peterson, Corrine 
Brown, Frank Mascara, Barbara Lee, Luis Gutierrez, Ciro Rodriguez, 
Julia Carson, Neil Abercrombie, and Joseph Kennedy. The measure I am 
introducing today is similar to legislation submitted to Congress by 
the Administration and closely reflects S. 1822, as introduced by 
Senator Specter and cosponsored by most of the members of the Senate 
Veterans Affairs' Committee: Senators Thurmond, Jeffords, Murkowski, 
Rockefeller, Akaka, Wellstone, Lieberman, and Murray.
  During the 1940's to the 1960's, many submariners and air crew 
members were occupationally exposed to NRIT to prevent ear injury. The 
Centers for Disease Control has estimated that as many as 20,000 
service members may have received this treatment. Treatment was not 
limited to service members. This therapy was prevalent among civilians 
and was even used to treat children. Studies have found statistically 
significant associations between exposure to this therapy as a child 
and development of certain head and neck cancers. Associations between 
health outcomes and adult exposure to therapy are less clear, but poor 
recordkeeping on the use of this treatment may not allow new studies to 
determine definitive associations within the veteran population and 
previous studies have been flawed.
  VA has noted that the high levels of exposure among treated 
individuals may call for special consideration of this population. 
Exposure to radiation during nasopharyngeal treatments was greater than 
the exposure of many of the veterans who already populate VA's IRR. 
Given the high incidence of exposure to this therapy for occupational 
purposes among the veteran population, the relatively high levels of 
exposure these individuals were subjected to, and the scientific 
evidence that exists, the Administration requested that Congress 
authorize these veterans' treatment in VA medical facilities. It is 
time to give the veterans who received NRIT treatments--many of whom 
did so involuntarily--the benefit of the doubt. It is time to allow VA 
to treat them and the conditions it believes may be linked to this 
exposure and add them, along with other veterans who were exposed to 
far lower levels of radiation, to its registry. This is a responsible 
bill--and it's the right thing to do.
  I urge my colleagues to sign on as a cosponsor to this important 
legislation.

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