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 individ-
uals 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 Flor-
ida, 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 Com-
mittee 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ACES Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. NATIONAL ACADEMIES STUDY ON PREVALENCE 
AND MORTALITY OF CANCER AMONG INDI-
VIDUALS WHO SERVED AS ACTIVE DUTY AIR-
CREW IN THE ARMED FORCES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 
shall enter into an agreement with the National Academies 
of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘‘National Academies’’), under which the 
National Academies shall conduct a study on the preva-
lence and mortality of cancers among covered individuals. 
(b) STUDY.—The study required under subsection (a) 
shall— 
(1) identify exposures associated with military 
occupations of covered individuals, including relating 
to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phe-
nomena; 
(2) review the literature to determine associa-
tions between exposures referred to in paragraph (1) 
and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer 
morbidity, overall cancer mortality, and increased in-
cidence or prevalence of— 
(A) brain cancer; 
(B) colon and rectal cancers; 
(C) kidney cancer; 
(D) lung cancer; 
(E) melanoma skin cancer; 
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(F) non-Hodgkin lymphoma; 
(G) pancreatic cancer; 
(H) prostate cancer; 
(I) testiscular cancer; 
(J) thyroid cancer; 
(K) urinary bladder cancer; and 
(L) other cancers as determined appro-
priate by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, in 
consultation with the National Academies; and 
(3) determine, to the extent possible, the preva-
lence of and mortality from the cancers specified in 
paragraph (2) among covered individuals by using 
available sources of data, which may include— 
(A) health care and other administrative 
databases of the Department of Veterans Af-
fairs, the Department of Defense, and the indi-
vidual Services, respectively; 
(B) the national death index maintained by 
the National Center for Health Statistics of the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 
and 
(C) the study conducted under section 750 
of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National 
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 
(Public Law 116–283; 134 Stat. 3716). 
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(c) REPORT.—At the conclusion of the study required 
under subsection (a), the National Academies shall submit 
to the Secretary and to the Committees on Veterans’ Af-
fairs of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 
report containing the results of the study described in sub-
section (b). 
(d) COVERED INDIVIDUAL DEFINED.—In this sec-
tion, the term ‘‘covered individual’’ means an individual 
who served on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, 
or Marine Corps as an aircrew member of a fixed-wing 
aircraft, including as a pilot, navigator, weapons systems 
operator, aircraft system operator, or any other crew 
member who regularly flew in a fixed-wing aircraft. 
Æ 
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