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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2553

To provide for a grant by the Secretary of Defense to be made for the

support of establishment of a research facility to study low-level chemical

sensitivity, particularly in Persian Gulf War veterans.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 1993

Mr. MONTGOMERY (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Mr. ROWLAND, and Mr. SMITH

of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Armed Services

A BILL

To provide for a grant by the Secretary of Defense to be

made for the support of establishment of a research

facility to study low-level chemical sensitivity, particularly

in Persian Gulf War veterans.

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

3 SECTION 1. GRANT FOR SUPPORT OF ESTABLISHMENT OF

4 RESEARCH FACILITY TO STUDY LOW-LEVEL

5 CHEMICAL SENSITIVITY.

6 (a) GRANT.—Of the amount authorized to be appro7 priated to the Department of Defense for research, devel8 opment, test, and evaluation for fiscal year 1994, the sum
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1 of $1,200,000 shall be available for a grant by the Sec2 retary of Defense to a qualifying facility to construct and

3 equip a specialized environmental medical research unit in

4 a hospital setting to conduct environmentally controlled

5 research into possible chemical sensitivities to low-level ex6 posures to organic chemicals and other substances, espe7 cially among persons who served on active duty in the

8 Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian

9 Gulf War.

10 (b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The grant authorized by

11 subsection (a) may be awarded only to a health care facil12 ity that (as determined by the Secretary of Defense)—

13 (1) is operated by or affiliated with an accred14 ited medical school;

15 (2) has the capacity, or demonstrable potential,

16 to ensure the participation of scientists who are ca17 pable of winning extramural funding support for,

18 and carrying out, outstanding research into possible

19 chemical sensitivities to low-level exposures to or20 ganic chemicals and other substances; and

21 (3) is located in proximity to, and is affiliated

22 with a medical facility of the Department of De23 fense, which itself has an affiliation with a medical

24 facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
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1 (c) REQUIRED AGREEMENT.—The Secretary may not

2 award the grant under subsection (a) to a health care fa3 cility unless the facility has entered into an agreement

4 with the Secretary that includes provisions ensuring

5 that—

6 (1) research personnel of the affiliated Depart7 ment of Veterans Affairs medical facility, and of the

8 Department of Defense medical facility with which it

9 is associated, and any other appropriate Federal per10 sonnel with relevant expertise, may carry out re11 search activities at the unit on an ongoing basis;

12 (2) to the extent not inconsistent with para13 graph (1), the facilities of the research unit con14 structed and equipped with the assistance of such

15 grant support shall be made available for research

16 activities on a competitive basis; and

17 (3) Federal funding for the research unit, and

18 any Federal research activities carried out at the

19 unit, are acknowledged in the activities and publica20 tions of the grantee.

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