Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 105 Part 1.djvu/39

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PUBLIC LAW 102-4—FEB. 6, 1991 105 STAT. 11 Public Law 102-4 - .. 102d Congress '- An Act r 'Hit. y- To provide for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to obtain independent scientific review of the available scientific evidence regarding associations between diseases Feb. 6, 1991 and exposure to dioxin and other chemical compounds in herbicides, and for other [H.R. 556] purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Agent Orange '

Act of 1991. SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 38 USC 101 note. This Act may be cited as the "Agent Orange Act of 1991". SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE CONNECTION FOR DISEASES ASSOCI- ATED WITH EXPOSURE TO CERTAIN HERBICIDE AGENTS. (a) IN GENERAL. —(1) Chapter 11 of title 38, United States Code, is . _-,.^-^ amended by adding at the end of subchapter II the following new section: '*§ 316. Presumptions of service connection for diseases associated with exposure to certain herbicide agents "(a)(l) For the purposes of section 310 of this title, and subject to section 313 of this title— "(A) a disease specified in paragraph (2) of this subsection becoming manifest as specified in that paragraph in a veteran who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era; and (B) each additional disease (if any) that (1) the Secretary determines in regulations prescribed under this section warrants a presumption of service-connection by reason of having positive association with exposure to an herbicide agent, and (2) becomes manifest within the period (if any) prescribed in such regulations in a veteran who, during active military, naval, or air service, served in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era and while so serving was exposed to that herbicide agent, shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated by such service, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such disease during the period of such service. "(2) The diseases referred to in paragraph (I)(A) of this subsection are the following: "(A) Non-Hodgkin's l3rmphoma becoming manifest to a degree of disability of 10 percent or more. ^j,, "(B) Each soft-tissue sarcoma becoming manifest to a degree of disability of 10 percent or more other than osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi's sarcoma, or mesothelioma. "(C) Chloracne or another acneform disease consistent with chloracne becoming manifest to a degree of disability of 10 percent or more within one year after the last date on which the veteran performed active military, naval, or air service in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era.