I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4886 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 

and Medicine on the prevalence and mortality of cancer among individuals who served as active duty aircrew in the Armed Forces, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 25, 2023 

Mr. PFLUGER (for himself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. DUNN of Florida, Mr. ELLZEY, Mr. BACON, Mr. KILMER, Mr. BERGMAN, Ms. VAN

DUYNE, Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California, Mr. ALLRED, and Mr. 

VALADAO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide for a study by the National Academies of 

Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on the prevalence 

and mortality of cancer among individuals who served 

as active duty aircrew in the Armed Forces, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ACES Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL ACADEMIES STUDY ON PREVALENCE 

2 AND MORTALITY OF CANCER AMONG INDI3 VIDUALS WHO SERVED AS ACTIVE DUTY AIR4 CREW IN THE ARMED FORCES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

6 shall enter into an agreement with the National Academies 

7 of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (in this section re8 ferred to as the ‘‘National Academies’’), under which the 

9 National Academies shall conduct a study on the preva10 lence and mortality of cancers among covered individuals. 

11 (b) STUDY.—The study required under subsection (a) 

12 shall— 

13 (1) identify exposures associated with military 

14 occupations of covered individuals, including relating 

15 to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phe16 nomena; 

17 (2) review the literature to determine associa18 tions between exposures referred to in paragraph (1) 

19 and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer 

20 morbidity, overall cancer mortality, and increased in21 cidence or prevalence of— 

22 (A) brain cancer; 

23 (B) colon and rectal cancers; 

24 (C) kidney cancer; 

25 (D) lung cancer; 

26 (E) melanoma skin cancer; 


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1 (F) non-Hodgkin lymphoma; 

2 (G) pancreatic cancer; 

3 (H) prostate cancer; 

4 (I) testiscular cancer; 

5 (J) thyroid cancer; 

6 (K) urinary bladder cancer; and 

7 (L) other cancers as determined appro8 priate by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 

9 consultation with the National Academies; and 

10 (3) determine, to the extent possible, the preva11 lence of and mortality from the cancers specified in 

12 paragraph (2) among covered individuals by using 

13 available sources of data, which may include— 

14 (A) health care and other administrative 

15 databases of the Department of Veterans Af16 fairs, the Department of Defense, and the indi17 vidual Services, respectively; 

18 (B) the national death index maintained by 

19 the National Center for Health Statistics of the 

20 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 

21 and 

22 (C) the study conducted under section 750 

23 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 

24 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 

25 (Public Law 116–283; 134 Stat. 3716). 


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1 (c) REPORT.—At the conclusion of the study required 

2 under subsection (a), the National Academies shall submit 

3 to the Secretary and to the Committees on Veterans’ Af4 fairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 

5 report containing the results of the study described in sub6 section (b). 

7 (d) COVERED INDIVIDUAL DEFINED.—In this sec8 tion, the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an individual 

9 who served on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, 

10 or Marine Corps as an aircrew member of a fixed-wing 

11 aircraft, including as a pilot, navigator, weapons systems 

12 operator, aircraft system operator, or any other crew 

13 member who regularly flew in a fixed-wing aircraft. 

Æ 


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