Cancers defined as "radiogenic diseases"

[Bruce Pickett <SHEA136@KGV2.bems.boeing.com>]

 The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced in the Federal
 Register (FR) a proposed rule that would define prostate and ANY other cancer
 as "radiogenic diseases". This would seem to set a precedent for future legal
 actions involving exposure to radiation. The text of the FR notice is included
 below. Any comments?

   Bruce Pickett
   The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA
   bruce.d.pickett@boeing.com

 ==========================================================================
 Federal Register: September 25, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 187)

 Proposed Rules

 Page 50264-50265

 From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access (wais.access.gpo.gov)

 DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

 38 CFR Part 3

 RIN 2900-AI00

 Claims Based on Exposure to Ionizing Radiation (Prostate Cancer and Any Other
 Cancer)

 AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

 ACTION: Proposed rule.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------

 SUMMARY: This document proposes to amend the Department of Veterans Affairs
 (VA) adjudication regulations concerning compensation for diseases claimed to
 be the result of exposure to ionizing radiation. This would implement a
 decision by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that based on all evidence
 currently available to him prostate cancer and any other cancers are
 ``radiogenic diseases.'' The intended affect of this action is to add these
 conditions to the list of radiogenic diseases for service-connected
 compensation purposes.

 DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 25, 1996.

 ADDRESSES: Mail or hand deliver written comments to: Director, Office of
 Regulations Management (02D), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont
 Avenue, NW, Room 1154 Washington, DC 20420. Comments should indicate that they
 are in response to ``RIN 2900-AI00.'' All written comments received will be
 available for public inspection at the above address in the Office of
 Regulations Management, Room 1158, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.,
 Monday through Friday (except holidays).

 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Bisset, Jr., Consultant, Program
 Management Staff, Compensation and Pension Service, Veterans Benefits
 Administration, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420, telephone (202)
 273-7213.

 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Veterans' Dioxin and Radiation Exposure
 Compensation Standards Act, Pub. L. 98-542, required VA to develop regulations
 establishing standards and criteria for adjudicating veterans' claims for
 service-connected compensation for diseases claimed to be the result of
 exposure to ionizing radiation. In response to that requirement, VA has
 defined the term ``radiogenic disease'' to mean a disease that may be induced
 by ionizing radiation and established a list of diseases that satisfy that
 definition at 38 CFR 3.311(b)(2). That list is not an exclusive list, however,
 and since 1985 VA has added a number of conditions to it.

     When the Secretary determines that a significant statistical association
 exists between exposure to ionizing radiation and any disease under the
 standards established at 38 CFR 1.17, VA adds that disease to the list of
 radiogenic diseases found at 38 CFR 3.311(b)(2). Before making such a
 determination, the Secretary receives the advice of the Veterans Advisory
 Committee on Environmental Hazards (VACEH) based on its evaluation of
 scientific and medical studies.

     On April 25-26, 1995, the VACEH held a public meeting in Washington, DC,
 and reviewed 53 medical and scientific studies having to do with radiation
 exposure and subsequent development of disease. Based upon its assessment of
 those studies and the scientific literature that it had previously reviewed
 and deemed to be valid, the VACEH concluded that it would be appropriate to
 consider prostate cancer as being associated with radiation exposure for
 purposes of VA's compensation system. Based on that recommendation, the
 Secretary has preliminarily determined that an association exists between
 radiation exposure and prostate cancer.

     In response to a request from the Under Secretary for Benefits, the VACEH
 addressed the question of the radiogenicity of cancer generally. The VACEH
 concluded that, on the basis of current scientific knowledge, exposure to
 ionizing radiation can be a contributing factor in the development of any
 malignancy. The degree to which radiation exposure is a factor varies
 depending on the type of malignancy, the amount, rate and type of radiation
 exposure, and other relevant risk factors such as age at the time of exposure.
 After reviewing this recommendation, the Secretary has preliminarily
 determined that an association exists between radiation exposure and any other
 cancer not listed at 38 CFR 3.311(b)(2).

     The Secretary hereby certifies that this regulatory amendment will not
 have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
 as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
 The reason for this certification is that these amendments would not directly
 affect any small entities. Only VA beneficiaries could be directly affected.
 Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), these amendments are exempt from the
 initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements of section 603
 and 604.

     (The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program numbers are 64.109 and
 64.110.) List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 3

     Administrative practice and procedure, Claims, Disability benefits, Health
 care, Pensions, Veterans, Vietnam.

     Approved: June 4, 1996. Jesse Brown, Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

     For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 38 CFR part 3 is proposed to be
 amended as follows:

 PART 3--ADJUDICATION

 Subpart A--Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation

     1. The authority citation for part 3, subpart A continues to read as
 follows:

     Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), unless otherwise noted.

     2. In Sec. 3.311, paragraph (b)(2)(xxi) is amended by removing ``and'';
 and paragraph (b)(2)(xxii) is amended by removing ``.'' and adding, in its
 place, ``;''; and new paragraphs (b)(2)(xxiii) and (b)(2)(xxiv) are added to
 read as follows:

 Sec. 3.311 Claims based on exposure to ionizing radiation.

 * * * * *

     (b) * * *
     (2) * * *
     (xxiii) Prostate cancer; and
     (xxiv) Any other cancer.

 * * * * *