§1118 — Title 38 Veterans' Benefits | U.S. Code

Summary

Gives veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater during the Persian Gulf War a rule that certain illnesses are treated as caused or made worse by their service. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs must make rules that list which diagnosed or undiagnosed illnesses count. Those illnesses must be linked to exposure to biological, chemical, or other toxic agents, environmental or wartime hazards, or preventive medicines or vaccines tied to service, and they must show up within the time limits the rules set. If a veteran from that theater has one of the listed illnesses, the law says they were exposed during service unless there is clear proof they were not. Signs or symptoms of undiagnosed illnesses include the kinds the Secretary identifies for such cases. Any decision made on or after the date the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 was enacted must follow subchapter VII of this chapter.

Title 38, §1118

Veterans' Benefits — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)For purposes of section 1110 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of this title, each illness, if any, described in paragraph (2) shall be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated by service referred to in that paragraph, notwithstanding that there is no record of evidence of such illness during the period of such service.

(2)An illness referred to in paragraph (1) is any diagnosed or undiagnosed illness that—

(A)the Secretary determines in regulations prescribed under this section to warrant a presumption of service connection by reason of having a positive association with exposure to a biological, chemical, or other toxic agent, environmental or wartime hazard, or preventive medicine or vaccine known or presumed to be associated with service in the Armed Forces in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War; and

(B)becomes manifest within the period, if any, prescribed in such regulations in a veteran who served on active duty in that theater of operations during that war and by reason of such service was exposed to such agent, hazard, or medicine or vaccine.

(3)For purposes of this subsection, a veteran who served on active duty in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War and has an illness described in paragraph (2) shall be presumed to have been exposed by reason of such service to the agent, hazard, or medicine or vaccine associated with the illness in the regulations prescribed under this section unless there is conclusive evidence to establish that the veteran was not exposed to the agent, hazard, or medicine or vaccine by reason of such service.

(4)For purposes of this section, signs or symptoms that may be a manifestation of an undiagnosed illness include the signs and symptoms listed in section 1117(g) of this title.

(b)The Secretary shall ensure that any determination made on or after the date of the enactment of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022 regarding a presumption of service connection based on a toxic exposure under this section is made pursuant to subchapter VII of this chapter.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2022, referred to in subsec. (b), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 117–168, which was approved Aug. 10, 2022.

Amendments

2022—Subsecs. (b) to (e). Pub. L. 117–168 added subsec. (b) and struck out former subsecs. (b) to (e) which related to determinations of presumptions of service connection between illnesses and exposure to toxic agents during the Persian Gulf War. 2001—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 107–103, § 202(b)(2), added par. (4). Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 107–103, § 202(d)(1), substituted “on September 30, 2011” for “10 years after the first day of the fiscal year in which the National Academy of Sciences submits to the Secretary the first report under section 1603 of the Persian Gulf War Veterans Act of 1998”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2001 AmendmentAmendment by section 202(b)(2) of Pub. L. 107–103 effective Mar. 1, 2002, see section 202(c) of Pub. L. 107–103, set out as a note under section 1117 of this title.

§1118 Presumptions of Service Connection for Illnesses Associated with Service in the Persian Gulf During the Persian Gulf War