RESEARCH ON EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM BY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHO SERVED IN THE PERSIAN GULF WAR

SEC. 271. RESEARCH ON EXPOSURE TO DEPLETED URANIUM BY MILITARY PERSONNEL WHO SERVED IN THE PERSIAN GULF WAR (a) Grant To Support Research On The Effects Of Depleted Uranium.—From the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in fiscal year 1994 for research, development, test, and evaluation for the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense is authorized to make a competitive award of a grant in the amount of $1,700,000 to a medical research institution for the purpose of studying the possible health effects of battlefield exposure to depleted uranium, including exposure through ingestion, inhalation, or bodily injury. The selection of the institution to which the grant is awarded shall be made in accordance with established defense acquisition procedures. (b) Research Program.—The research to be conducted at the facility for which a grant is made under subsection (a) shall explore the possible short-term and long-term health effects of exposure to depleted uranium, including exposure through ingestion, inhalation, or bodily injury, and the individual susceptibility of service personnel to such exposure. Such research shall focus on (but not be limited to) persons who may have been exposed to depleted uranium while serving on active duty in the theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. The specific objectives of the study shall include investigation of the pathology of depleted uranium fragments under controlled conditions, including— 107 STAT. 1615 (1) assessment of the toxico-kinetic properties of the various chemical forms of depleted uranium that could be inhaled, ingested, or imbedded; (2) examination of whether there are depleted uranium cancer induction mechanisms similar to those observed in Thorotrast-specific liver cancers; (3) determination of whether the radiogenic effects described in paragraphs (1) and (2) occur and, if so, at what fragment densities and latent periods; (4) assessment of long-term, low-dose-rate irradiation of specific tissues, such as those of the nervous system; (5) determination of the potential for chronic nephrotoxicity as a function of the organ exposed to depleted uranium; and (6) conduct of pathological studies of tissue surrounding depleted uranium particles. (c) Reports To Congress.—Not later than October 1, 1994, and annually thereafter for the period that research described in subsection (a) is being carried out under the grant made under this section, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report on the results of such research during the year preceding the report.