2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title IV - Civil Service, Retirements and Pensions › Chapter 32 - Retirement Systems and Pensions › Section 94b - Disability or Death Caused by Certain Conditions of Cancer; Paid Fire Member; Presumption

Section 94B. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, any condition of cancer affecting the skin, breasts or the central nervous, lymphatic, digestive, hematalogical, urinary, skeletal, oral, reproductive or prostate systems, lung or respiratory tract, resulting in total disability or death to a uniformed member of a paid fire department, or a member of the state police assigned to the fire investigation unit of the department of fire services, or a member of the state police K–9 unit, or to any permanent crash crewman, crash boatman, fire controlman or assistant fire controlman employed at the General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport, members of the 104th fighter wing fire department, members of the Devens fire department established pursuant to chapter 498 of the acts of 1993 or members of the Massachusetts military reservation fire department, shall, if he successfully passed a physical examination on entry into such service or subsequent to such entry, which examination failed to reveal any evidence of such condition, be presumed to have been suffered in the line of duty, unless it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that non-service connected risk factors or non-service connected accidents or hazards undergone, or any combination thereof, caused such incapacity. The provisions of this section shall only apply if the disabling or fatal condition is a type of cancer which may, in general, result from exposure to heat, radiation, or a known or suspected carcinogen as determined by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, so called.
(2) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person serving in such positions for fewer than five years at the time that such condition is first discovered, or should have been discovered. Any person first discovering any such condition within five years of the last date on which such person actively so served shall be eligible to apply for benefits hereunder, and such benefits, if granted, shall be payable as of the date on which the employee last received regular compensation. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person serving in such position unless such person shall first establish that he has regularly responded to calls of fire or their investigation at the scene during some portion of the period of his service in such position.
(3) The provisions of this section shall also apply to any condition of cancer, other than those listed in subdivision (1), which, in general, may result from exposure to heat or radiation or to a known or suspected carcinogen as determined by said International Agency for Research on Cancer, so-called, and the incidence of which is found by regulation by the commissioner of the department of public health to have a statistically significant correlation with fire service.
(4) Nothing herein shall preclude a member from applying for and receiving benefits under section seven or section nine, subject to the provisions of said sections.