I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2447 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 

service connection for illnesses associated with service in the Armed 

Forces in the Panama Canal Zone, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 30, 2023 

Ms. SALAZAR (for herself, Ms. TITUS, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mrs. MILLER

of Illinois, Mr. CARSON, Mr. SOTO, and Mr. FITZPATRICK) introduced the 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a 

presumption of service connection for illnesses associated 

with service in the Armed Forces in the Panama Canal 

Zone, 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 ‘‘Panama Canal Zone 

5 Veterans Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PRESUMPTION OF SERVICE CONNECTION. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 11 of 

3 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following new section: 

5 ‘‘§ 1120A. Presumption of service connection for ill6 nesses associated with service in the Pan7 ama Canal Zone 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) For purposes of section 1110 

9 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of this title, each 

10 illness, if any, described in paragraph (2) shall be consid11 ered to have been incurred in or aggravated by service re12 ferred to in that paragraph, notwithstanding that there 

13 is no record of evidence of such illness during the period 

14 of such service. 

15 ‘‘(2) An illness referred to in paragraph (1) is any 

16 illness— 

17 ‘‘(A) that— 

18 ‘‘(i) is described in paragraph (3); or 

19 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary determines in regula20 tions prescribed under this section warrants a 

21 presumption of service connection by reason of 

22 having a positive association with exposure to 

23 an herbicide agent known or presumed to be as24 sociated with service in the Armed Forces in or 

25 near the Panama Canal Zone during the cov26 ered period; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) that becomes manifest within the period, 

2 if any, prescribed in such regulations in a veteran 

3 who served on active duty in or near the Panama 

4 Canal Zone during the covered period and by reason 

5 of such service was exposed to such agent. 

6 ‘‘(3) An illness described in this paragraph is any of 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) Chronic B-cell leukemia. 

9 ‘‘(B) Hodgkin’s disease. 

10 ‘‘(C) Multiple myeloma. 

11 ‘‘(D) Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

12 ‘‘(E) Prostate cancer. 

13 ‘‘(F) Respiratory cancers (including lung can14 cer). 

15 ‘‘(G) Soft-tissue sarcoma (other than 

16 osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, or 

17 mesothelioma). 

18 ‘‘(H) AL amyloidosis. 

19 ‘‘(I) Chloracne and any other type of acneiform 

20 disease the Secretary determines is similar. 

21 ‘‘(J) Diabetes mellitus type 2. 

22 ‘‘(K) Ischemic heart disease. 

23 ‘‘(L) Parkinson’s disease. 

24 ‘‘(M) Early onset peripheral neuropathy. 

25 ‘‘(N) Porphyria cutanea tarda. 


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1 ‘‘(O) Bladder cancer. 

2 ‘‘(P) Hypothyroidism. 

3 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—(1) Whenever the Secretary 

4 makes a determination described in paragraph (2), the 

5 Secretary shall prescribe regulations providing that a pre6 sumption of service connection is warranted for the illness 

7 covered by that determination for purposes of this section. 

8 ‘‘(2) A determination described in this paragraph is 

9 a determination based on sound medical and scientific evi10 dence that a positive association exists between— 

11 ‘‘(A) the exposure of humans to a herbicide 

12 agent known or presumed to be associated with serv13 ice in or near the Panama Canal Zone; and 

14 ‘‘(B) the occurrence of a diagnosed or 

15 undiagnosed illness in humans. 

16 ‘‘(3) In making determinations for purposes of para17 graph (2), the Secretary shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) take into account all sound medical and 

19 scientific information and analyses available to the 

20 Secretary; 

21 ‘‘(B) in evaluating any report, information, or 

22 analysis, take into consideration whether the results 

23 are statistically significant, are capable of replica24 tion, and withstand peer review; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) consider an association between the occur2 rence of an illness in humans and exposure to an 

3 herbicide agent to be positive for purposes if the 

4 credible evidence for the association is equal to or 

5 outweighs the credible evidence against the associa6 tion. 

7 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

8 ‘‘(1) The term ‘covered period’ means the pe9 riod beginning on January 1, 1958, and ending on 

10 the latter of the following dates, as determined by 

11 the Secretary: 

12 ‘‘(A) December 31, 1999. 

13 ‘‘(B) The date on which the last member 

14 of the Armed Forces departed from official duty 

15 in the Panama Canal Zone. 

16 ‘‘(2) The term ‘herbicide agent’ means a chem17 ical in an herbicide, including Agent Purple and 

18 Agent Orange.’’. 

19 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

20 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

21 after the item relating to section 1118 the following new 

22 item: 

‘‘1120A. Presumption of service connection for illnesses associated with service 

in the Panama Canal Zone.’’. 

Æ 


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