I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4463 

To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces exposed during 

military service to depleted uranium, to provide for health testing of 

such members, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2004 

Mr. SERRANO (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To provide for identification of members of the Armed Forces 

exposed during military service to depleted uranium, to 

provide for health testing of such members, 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 ‘‘Depleted Uranium 

5 Screeing and Testing Act of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. DEPLETED URANIUM RISK NOTIFICATION FOR DE2 PLOYING FORCES. 

3 (a) NOTIFICATION.— The Secretary of Defense shall 

4 establish procedures to require that, as part of the proce5 dures for preparing members of the Armed Forces for de6 ployment to a theater of operations, that such members 

7 be notified of— 

8 (1) any known or likely use of depleted uranium 

9 in that theater of operations (whether by forces of 

10 the United States and its allies or by any opposing 

11 forces); and 

12 (2) any health risks associated with exposure to 

13 depleted uranium. 

14 (b) TRAINING.—The Secretary shall provide for 

15 training deploying forces on how to handle depleted ura16 nium before deploying them to a theater in which depleted 

17 uranium is used. 

18 SEC. 3. DEPLETED URANIUM SCREENING AND TESTING. 

19 (a) IDENTIFICATION AND TESTING REQUIRED.—The 

20 Secretary of Defense shall carry out a program to identify 

21 individuals who during active service in the Armed Forces 

22 are or have been exposed to depleted uranium and to pro23 vide those individuals with bioassay testing and notifica24 tion of the results of such testing. 

25 (b) DU-EXPOSED PERSONNEL IDENTIFICATION

26 METHODS.—(1) The Secretary of each military depart-
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1 ment shall establish procedures to identify members of the 

2 Armed Forces under the Secretary’s jurisdiction who are, 

3 or may have been, exposed to depleted uranium. For such 

4 purpose, the Secretary shall identify units and members 

5 under paragraph (2) and shall accept self-identification re6 ports by members under paragraph (3). 

7 (2) The Secretary of each military department shall 

8 identify units, and personnel assigned to units, that have 

9 been, or could have been, exposed to depleted uranium, 

10 based upon information about known exposure events (as 

11 determined under subsection (c)). 

12 (3) The Secretary of each military department shall 

13 accept a report by an individual that the individual, while 

14 a member of the Armed Forces under the Secretary’s ju15 risdiction, was, or may have been, exposed to depleted ura16 nium based upon service on active duty (or training duty 

17 or funeral honors duty) in a theater of operations where 

18 depleted uranium was used, including travel through such 

19 an area. The Secretary shall prescribe procedures for re20 ceiving such reports. 

21 (4) In carrying out this subsection, the Secretary of 

22 each military department shall ensure that individuals no 

23 longer on active duty (including members of the reserve 

24 components who have been released from active duty, 

25 members who have been retired, and members who have 
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1 been separated from service) are treated, for identification 

2 purposes, in the same manner as individuals remaining on 

3 active duty. 

4 (c) EXPOSURE EVENTS.—The Secretary of Defense 

5 shall identify depleted uranium exposure events for pur6 poses of this section. The exposure events identified shall 

7 include the following: 

8 (1) An event in which an individual— 

9 (A) is struck by depleted uranium muni10 tions or depleted uranium armor fragments; 

11 (B) is within 50 meters of a vehicle or 

12 structure containing or equipped with depleted 

13 uranium cargo or components (such as aircraft 

14 counterweights and helicopter rotor tips) at a 

15 time that the vehicle or structure was struck, 

16 exploded, burned, or crashed; or 

17 (C) while acting as a first responder to an 

18 event described in subparagraph (B), enters 

19 within 50 meters of the vehicle or structure to 

20 render aid. 

21 (2) An event in which an individual— 

22 (A) enters a vehicle or structure with pos23 sible depleted uranium residues in order to per24 form maintenance, recovery, intelligence, or bat25 tle damage assessment; or 
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1 (B) breathes smoke from fires involving 

2 depleted uranium materials. 

3 (3) An event in which an individual may inhale 

4 depleted uranium particulates as a result of the han5 dling of depleted uranium contaminated equipment 

6 or wreckage or exposure to particulate residues as 

7 part of maintenance duties (including duties as a 

8 welder or ammunition handler or duties involving 

9 cleanup or processing of depleted uranium contami10 nated equipment). 

11 (4) Other incidental exposures identified by the 

12 Secretary, including the performance of activities in 

13 the area of depleted uranium damaged vehicles or 

14 structures or the traveling through or residing in 

15 any such area. 

16 In addition to exposure events described in paragraphs (1) 

17 through (4) occurring on or after the the date of the enact18 ment of this Act, such events during the period between 

19 January 1, 2003, and the date of the enactment of this 

20 Act may be considered for purposes of this section, but 

21 only if reported during the 60-day period beginning on the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act. 

23 (d) HEALTH-CARE SERVICES REQUIRED.—(1) Any 

24 individual identified under subsection (b) shall be provided 

25 a health screening test by the Secretary of Defense. Such 
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1 test shall be carried out using a bioassay procedure devel2 oped by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the 

3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The same 

4 bioassay procedure shall be used for all types of exposure 

5 or possible exposure under subsection (c). 

6 (2)(A) In the case of an individual with an exposure 

7 event described in subsection (c) other than under para8 graph (4) of that subsection, the bioassay under para9 graph (1) shall be administered not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of the event. 

11 (B) In the case of an individual with an exposure 

12 event described in subsection (c)(4), the bioassay under 

13 paragraph (1) shall be administered not later than 30 days 

14 after the end of the individual’s deployment in the theater 

15 of operations, but such individual may be provided the bio16 assay earlier upon the individual’s request. 

17 (3) The Secretary of Defense shall provide the results 

18 of any bioassay procedure under this subsection to the in19 dividual tested, and the primary care manager or primary 

20 care provider of that individual, not later than 30 days 

21 after the Secretary receives those results. 

22 (e) PERSONNEL TRACKING.—The Secretary of each 

23 military department shall establish procedures for col24 lecting, tracking, and maintaining information on the 

25 health status of individuals tested under subsection (d) for 
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1 the purpose of assessing any long-term health con2 sequences of exposure to depleted uranium. 

3 (f) INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF BIOASSAY TYPES AND

4 CONTAMINATION THRESHOLDS.—The Director of the 

5 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall conduct 

6 an independent review of bioassay types and contamina7 tion thresholds for purposes of the testing under sub8 section (d). 

9 (g) TREATMENT.—Based on the results of the bio10 assay tests, the Secretary of the military department con11 cerned shall provide appropriate treatment for any illness 

12 of an individual resulting from a depleted uranium con13 tamination or exposure. 

14 SEC. 4. SURVEY OF RADIOISOTOPE IDENTIFICATION 

15 EQUIPMENT USED BY DEPARTMENT OF DE16 FENSE. 

17 (a) SURVEY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 

18 a survey of radioisotope identification equipment used by 

19 the Department of Defense in order to assess the capa20 bility of Department of Defense facilities to identify con21 centrations of different radioisotopes in naturally occur22 ring levels of uranium. 

23 (b) REPORT.—The Comptroller General shall submit 

24 to Congress a report on the results of the survey under 
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1 subsection (a) not later than 180 days after the date of 

2 the enactment of this Act. 

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