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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 148 / Thursday, August 5, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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Katherine Neas, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
FR Doc. 202116853 Filed 8321; 4:15 pm BILLING CODE 400001P

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 3
RIN 2900AR25

Presumptive Service Connection for Respiratory Conditions Due to Exposure to Particulate Matter Department of Veterans Affairs.
Interim final rule.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

The Department of Veterans Affairs VA is issuing this interim final rule to amend its adjudication regulations to establish presumptive service connection for three chronic respiratory health conditions, i.e., asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis, to include rhinosinusitis, in association with presumed exposures to fine, particulate matter. These presumptions would apply to veterans with a qualifying period of service, i.e., who served on active military, naval, or air service in the Southwest Asia theater of
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operations during the Persian Gulf War hereafter Gulf War, as well as in Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, or Uzbekistan, on or after September 19, 2001, during the Gulf War. This amendment is necessary to provide expeditious health care, services, and benefits to Gulf War Veterans who were potentially exposed to fine, particulate matter associated with deployment to the Southwest Asia theater of operations, as well as Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, and Uzbekistan. The intended effect of this amendment is to address the needs and concerns of Gulf War Veterans and service members who have served and continue to serve in these locations as military operations in the Southwest Asia theater of operations have been ongoing from August 1990
until the present time. Neither Congress nor the President has established an end date for the Gulf War. Therefore, to provide immediate health care, services, and benefits to current and future Gulf War Veterans who may be affected by particulate matter due to their military service, VA intends to provide presumptive service connection for the chronic disabilities of asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis, to include rhinosinusitis, as well as a presumption of exposure to fine, particulate matter. This will ease the evidentiary burden of Gulf War Veterans who file claims with VA for these three conditions, which are among the most commonly claimed respiratory conditions.
DATES:
Effective Date: This interim final rule is effective on August 5, 2021.
Applicability Date: The provisions of this interim final rule shall apply to all applications for service connection for asthma, rhinitis, and sinusitis based on service in the Southwest Asia theater of operations, as well as Afghanistan, Syria, Djibouti, or Uzbekistan, during the Persian Gulf War that are received by VA on or after August 5, 2021, or that were pending before VA, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, or the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on August 5, 2021.
Comment Date: Comments must be received on or before October 4, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted through www.regulations.gov or mailed to, Compensation Service, 21C, 1800 G Street NW, Suite 644A, Washington, DC 20006. Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response to RIN 2900AR25
Presumptive Service Connection for Respiratory Conditions Due to Exposure to Particulate Matter. Comments received will be available at
PO 00000

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regulations.gov for public viewing, inspection or copies.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Che, Director, VA Schedule for Rating Disabilities Program Office 210, Compensation Service, Veterans Benefits Administration VBA, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810
Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC
20420, 202 4619700. This is not a toll-free telephone number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine NASEM 1
and National Research Council NRC
Reports More than 3.7 million United States service members have participated in operations in Southwest Asia. During and after the initial Gulf War conflict, veterans began reporting a variety of health problems, as documented through the NASEM Gulf War and Health, Volumes 1 through 11. In addition, concerns continue to be raised by service members, veterans, veteran advocates, and Congress about possible adverse health consequences related to in-theater exposures to particulate matter, including smoke from open burn pits, and other airborne hazards. Several studies by NASEM have examined the possible contribution of air pollution to adverse health effects among U.S.
military personnel serving in the Middle East or their descendants.2
a. 2010 NRC Report, Review of the Department of Defense DoD Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program In February 2008 the Department of Defense issued the Department of Defense Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program EPMSP Final Report.3 The purpose of the study was to provide information on the chemical and physical properties of dust collected at deployment locations.
Aerosol and bulk soil samples were collected during a period of 1 Originally, the National Academy of Medicine was the Institute of Medicine IOM. In 2015, the IOM was reconstituted as the National Academy of Medicine NAM, a component of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine NASEM. The term NASEM is used in this rule to refer to reports published by IOM and NAM.
2 NASEM, Gulf War and Health Series: Volume 3:
Fuels and Products of Combustion 2005, https
doi.org/10.17226/11180 and Volume 11:
Generational Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War 2018, https doi.org/10.17226/25162.
NASEM, Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations 2020, https doi.org/
10.17226/25837.
3 Department of Defense Enhanced Particulate Matter Surveillance Program EPMSP Final Report 2008, https apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/
ADA605600.pdf.

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