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Title 38 — Veterans' BenefitsRelease 119-73not60

§1103 Special Provisions Relating to Claims Based Upon Effects of Tobacco Products

Title 38 › Part II— GENERAL BENEFITS › Chapter 11— COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE-CONNECTED DISABILITY OR DEATH › Subchapter I— GENERAL › § 1103

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Even if other laws say otherwise, a veteran’s disability or death cannot be treated as caused by active military, naval, air, or space service just because the veteran used tobacco products while serving. That rule does not stop a disability or death from being found to be linked to service if it can be shown the illness or injury was actually incurred or made worse during service, or if it reached the required level of disability during any presumptive period listed in sections 1112 or 1116.

Full Legal Text

Title 38, §1103

Veterans' Benefits — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a veteran’s disability or death shall not be considered to have resulted from personal injury suffered or disease contracted in the line of duty in the active military, naval, air, or space service for purposes of this title on the basis that it resulted from injury or disease attributable to the use of tobacco products by the veteran during the veteran’s service.
(b)Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed as precluding the establishment of service connection for disability or death from a disease or injury which is otherwise shown to have been incurred or aggravated in active military, naval, air, or space service or which became manifest to the requisite degree of disability during any applicable presumptive period specified in section 1112 or 1116 of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 1103 was renumbered section 1104 of this title.

Amendments

2021—Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “air, or space service” for “or air service” in subsecs. (a) and (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Title IX of Pub. L. 105–206 effective simultaneously with enactment of Pub. L. 105–178 and to be treated as included in Pub. L. 105–178 at time of enactment, see section 9016 of Pub. L. 105–206, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1998 Amendment note under section 101 of Title 23, Highways. Pub. L. 105–178, title VIII, § 8202(b), as amended by Pub. L. 105–206, title IX, § 9014(a),
July 22, 1998, 112 Stat. 865, provided that: “Section 1103 of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection (a), shall apply with respect to claims received by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs after the date of the enactment of this Act [
June 9, 1998].”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

38 U.S.C. § 1103

Title 38 — Veterans' Benefits

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60