S.Amdt. 3783

SA 3783. Mr. KELLY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2026 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle C of title VII, add the following:

SEC. 724. STUDY ON PREVALENCE AND MORTALITY OF CANCER AMONG
MILITARY ROTARY-WING PILOTS AND AVIATION
SUPPORT PERSONNEL.

(a) Study Required.--The Director of the Defense Health
Agency, in coordination with the Director of the National
Institutes of Health and the Director of the National Cancer
Institute, shall conduct a study among covered individuals in
two phases as provided by this section.
(b) Initial Phase of Study.--
(1) Goal of initial phase.--Under the initial phase of the
study under subsection (a), the Director of the Defense
Health Agency shall determine, for each cancer specified in
paragraph (2), whether there is an increased prevalence of,
or increased rate of mortality caused by, such cancer for
covered individuals as compared to similarly aged individuals
in the general population (or, in the case of the cancer
specified in paragraph (2)(B), for female covered individuals
as compared to similarly aged women in the general
population).
(2) Cancers specified.--The cancers specified in this
paragraph are the following:
(A) Brain cancer.
(B) Breast cancer.
(C) Colon and rectal cancer.
(D) Kidney cancer.
(E) Lung cancer.
(F) Melanoma.
(G) Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
(H) Ovarian cancer.
(I) Pancreatic cancer.
(J) Prostate cancer.
(K) Testicular cancer.
(L) Thyroid cancer.
(M) Urinary bladder cancer.
(N) Other cancers as determined appropriate by the Director
of the Defense Health Agency, in coordination with the
Director of the National Institutes of Health and the
Director of the National Cancer Institute.
(3) Report on initial phase.--Not later than one year after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the
Defense Health Agency shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report on the findings of the
phase of the study under this subsection.
(c) Second Phase of Study.--
(1) Goal of second phase.--If, pursuant to the initial
phase of the study under subsection (b), the Director of the
Defense Health Agency determines there is an increased
prevalence of, or increased mortality rate caused by, any
cancer specified in subsection (b)(2) among covered
individuals (or, with respect to the cancer specified in
subsection (b)(2)(B), among female covered individuals), the
Director shall conduct a second phase of the study--
(A) to identify any carcinogenic toxin or other hazardous
material associated with the operation of military rotary-
wing aircraft, such as fumes, fuels, or other liquids;
(B) to identify any operating environment, including
frequencies or electromagnetic fields, in which covered
individuals may have received excess exposure to non-ionizing
radiation in the course of such operation, including non-
ionizing radiation associated with airborne, ground, or
shipboard radars; and
(C) to identify potential exposures as a result of service
in the Armed Forces by covered individuals to carcinogenic
toxins or other hazardous materials not associated with the
operation of military rotary-wing aircraft (such as exposure
to burn pits, toxins in contaminated water, or toxins
embedded in soils), including by determining--
(i) the locations of such service; and
(ii) any duties of covered individuals unrelated to such
operation and associated with an increased prevalence of
cancer or an increased mortality rate caused by cancer.
(2) Report on second phase.--If the Director of the Defense
Health Agency conducts the phase of the study under this
subsection, not later than one year after the date on which
the Director submits the report under subsection (b)(3), the
Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report on the findings of such phase.
(3) Data format.--The Director of the Defense Health Agency
shall format any data resulting from the phase of the study
under this subsection consistent with the formatting of data
under the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results
Program, including by disaggregating such data by race,
gender, and age.
(d) Sources of Data.--In conducting the study under this
section, the Director of the Defense Health Agency shall use
data from--
(1) the database of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End
Results Program;
(2) the study conducted under section 750 of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law
116-283; 134 Stat. 3716); and
(3) any other study previously conducted by the Secretary
of a military department that the Director determines
relevant for purposes of this section.
(e) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on
Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives.
(2) Covered armed force.--The term ``covered Armed Force''
means the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or
the Space Force.
(3) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual''
means any individual who--
(A) served in a covered Armed Force on or after February
28, 1961, as an aircrew member of a rotary-wing aircraft
(including as a pilot or aviation support personnel), without
regard to the status, position, rank, or grade of the
individual within such crew; and
(B) receives health care benefits under chapter 55 of title
10, United States Code.
(4) Surveillance, epidemiology, and end results program.--
The term ``Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results
Program'' means the program of the National Cancer Institute
referred to in section 399B(d)(1) of the Public Health
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280e(d)(1)), or any successor program.
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