Military Aviators Cancer Incidence Study Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4043 To require the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehensive database and repository on military aviators and conduct a study on such aviators to determine the incidence of cancer diagnosis and mortality among such aviators, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 23, 2020 Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself, Mr. CORNYN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MARKEY, and Ms. ROSEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Serv- ices A BILL To require the Secretary of Defense to develop a comprehen- sive database and repository on military aviators and conduct a study on such aviators to determine the inci- dence of cancer diagnosis and mortality among such avi- ators, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Aviators Can- 4 cer Incidence Study Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4043 IS SEC. 2. DATABASE ON MILITARY AVIATORS AND STUDY ON 1 THE INCIDENCE OF CANCER DIAGNOSIS AND 2 MORTALITY AMONG MILITARY AVIATORS. 3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 4 ings: 5 (1) It has been reported that the prevalence of 6 cancer is particularly high among military aviators, 7 particularly among fighter pilots in the Air Force, 8 Navy, and Marine Corps. 9 (2) There have been several alarming clusters 10 of cancer diagnoses at military installations, includ- 11 ing at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in 12 California and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in 13 North Carolina. 14 (3) Four commanding officers who served at 15 Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake have died of 16 cancer. Each officer had completed thousands of 17 flight hours in advanced jets. 18 (4) According to a study by the Air Force in 19 2008 titled ‘‘Cancer in Fighters’’, six pilots and 20 weapons systems officers for the F–15E Strike 21 Eagle at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, aged 33 22 to 43, were diagnosed with forms of urogenital can- 23 cers between 2002 and 2005. Each officer had com- 24 pleted at least 2,100 flight hours. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4043 IS (5) A study by the Air Force in 2010 reported 1 on a cluster of seven members of the Air Force Spe- 2 cial Operations Command diagnosed with brain can- 3 cer among crew members of the C–130 between 4 2006 and 2009. The individuals affected were three 5 C–130 pilots, two flight engineers, one loadmaster, 6 and one navigator assigned to different installations 7 around the world. Overall, brain cancer affects ap- 8 proximately 6.5 out of 100,000 people in the United 9 States annually. 10 (6) There has been no comprehensive study 11 conducted of cancer rates among military aviators. 12 (7) One challenge of extracting findings from 13 previous studies by the Navy or the Air Force on 14 cancer rates is that each study focused on pilots who 15 are active duty members of the Armed Forces and 16 did not include the medical records of former pilots 17 who are veterans, which is the population in which 18 cancer is surfacing. 19 (8) Members of the Armed Forces who serve 20 full military careers are not likely to be counted in 21 data captured by the Department of Veterans Af- 22 fairs. Members who serve 20 years or more are eligi- 23 ble for health care under the TRICARE program, 24 which is managed by the Department of Defense. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4043 IS Also, many members pursue private sector jobs after 1 separating from the Armed Forces and receive 2 health care outside of the Federal Government. 3 Those factors have made it difficult to find statistics 4 to back up the health issues that families of military 5 aviators are experiencing. 6 (b) DATABASE.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 9 of Defense shall seek to enter into an agreement 10 with the National Institutes of Health, the National 11 Cancer Institute, and the Department of Veterans 12 Affairs, under which the Secretary of Defense shall 13 develop a comprehensive database and repository— 14 (A) identifying each military aviator; and 15 (B) documenting the cancers, date of diag- 16 nosis, and mortality of all such military avi- 17 ators. 18 (2) DATA.—The Secretary of Defense shall for- 19 mat all data included in the database and repository 20 under paragraph (1) in accordance with the Surveil- 21 lance, Epidemiology, and End Results program of 22 the National Cancer Institute, including by 23 disaggregating such data by race, gender, and age. 24 (c) STUDY.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4043 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense, in 1 conjunction with the National Institutes of Health 2 and the National Cancer Institute, shall conduct a 3 study on cancer among military aviators in two 4 phases as provided in this subsection. 5 (2) PHASE 1.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Under the initial phase 7 of the study conducted under paragraph (1), 8 the Secretary of Defense shall determine if 9 there is a higher incidence of cancers occurring 10 for military aviators as compared to similar age 11 groups in the general population through the 12 use of the database of the Surveillance, Epide- 13 miology, and End Results program of the Na- 14 tional Cancer Institute. 15 (B) REPORT.—Not later than one year 16 after the date on which the Secretary of De- 17 fense enters into the agreement under sub- 18 section (b)(1), the Secretary shall submit to the 19 appropriate committees of Congress a report on 20 the findings of the initial phase of the study 21 under subparagraph (A). 22 (3) PHASE 2.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—If, pursuant to the ini- 24 tial phase of the study under paragraph (2), the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4043 IS Secretary concludes that there is an increased 1 rate of cancers among military aviators, the 2 Secretary shall conduct a second phase of the 3 study under which the Secretary shall do the 4 following: 5 (i) Identify the carcinogenic toxins or 6 hazardous materials associated with mili- 7 tary flight operations from shipboard or 8 land bases or facilities, such as fuels, 9 fumes, and other liquids. 10 (ii) Identify the operating environ- 11 ments, including frequencies or electro- 12 magnetic fields, where exposure to ionizing 13 radiation (associated with high altitude 14 flight) and nonionizing radiation (associ- 15 ated with airborne, ground, and shipboard 16 radars) occurred in which military aviators 17 could have received increased radiation 18 amounts. 19 (iii) Identify, for each military aviator, 20 duty stations, dates of service, aircraft 21 flown, and additional duties (such as 22 Landing Safety Officer, Catapult and Ar- 23 resting Gear Officer, Air Liaison Officer, 24 or Tactical Air Control Party) that could 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4043 IS have increased the risk of cancer for such 1 military aviator. 2 (iv) Determine locations where a mili- 3 tary aviator served or additional duties of 4 a military aviator that are associated with 5 higher incidences of cancers. 6 (v) Identify potential exposures due to 7 service in the Armed Forces that are not 8 related to aviation, such as exposure to 9 burn pits or toxins in contaminated water, 10 embedded in the soil, or inside bases or 11 housing. 12 (vi) Determine the appropriate age to 13 begin screening military aviators for cancer 14 based on race, gender, flying hours, Armed 15 Force, type of aircraft, and mission. 16 (B) DATA.—The Secretary shall format all 17 data included in the study conducted under this 18 paragraph in accordance with the Surveillance, 19 Epidemiology, and End Results program of the 20 National Cancer Institute, including by 21 disaggregating such data by race, gender, and 22 age. 23 (C) REPORT.—Not later than one year 24 after the submittal of the report under para- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4043 IS graph (2)(B), if the Secretary conducts the sec- 1 ond phase of the study under this paragraph, 2 the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 3 committees of Congress a report on the findings 4 of the study conducted under this paragraph. 5 (4) USE OF DATA FROM PREVIOUS STUDIES.— 6 In conducting the study under this subsection, the 7 Secretary of Defense shall incorporate data from 8 previous studies conducted by the Air Force, the 9 Navy, or the Marine Corps that are relevant to the 10 study under this subsection, including data from the 11 comprehensive study conducted by the Air Force 12 identifying each military aviator and documenting 13 the cancers, dates of diagnoses, and mortality of 14 each military aviator. 15 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 16 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS.— 17 The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Congress’’ 18 means— 19 (A) the Committee on Armed Services and 20 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen- 21 ate; and 22 (B) the Committee on Armed Services and 23 the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs of the 24 House of Representatives. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4043 IS (2) ARMED FORCES.—The term ‘‘Armed 1 Forces’’— 2 (A) has the meaning given the term 3 ‘‘armed forces’’ in section 101 of title 10, 4 United States Code; and 5 (B) includes the reserve components 6 named in section 10101 of such title. 7 (3) MILITARY AVIATOR.—The term ‘‘military 8 aviator’’— 9 (A) means an aviator who served in the 10 Armed Forces on or after February 28, 1961; 11 and 12 (B) includes any air crew member of fixed- 13 wing aircraft, including pilots, navigators, 14 weapons systems operators, aircraft system op- 15 erators, and any other crew member who regu- 16 larly flies in an aircraft or is required to com- 17 plete the mission of the aircraft. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:14 Jul 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4043.IS S4043 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS