§ 25 — Veterans health screening

§ 25. Veterans health screening. 1. As used in this section: a.\n"Eligible member" means a member of the New York army national guard or\nthe New York air national guard who served in the Persian Gulf War, as\ndefined in 38 USC 101, or in an area designated as a combat zone by the\npresident of the United States during Operation Enduring Freedom or\nOperation Iraqi Freedom;\n b. "Veteran" means a person as defined in section one of this article\nwho is a resident of the state;\n c. "Military physician" includes a physician who is under contract\nwith the United States department of defense to provide physician\nservices to members of the uniformed services; and\n d. "Depleted uranium" means uranium containing less uranium-235 than\nthe naturally occurring distribution of uranium isotopes.\n 2. On and after February first, two thousand seven, the adjutant\ngeneral and the state commissioner shall assist any eligible member or\nveteran who has been experiencing health problems. Such problems may\ninclude exposure to toxic materials or harmful physical agents such as\ndepleted uranium. An eligible member or veteran who has been assigned a\nrisk level I, II or III for depleted uranium exposure by his or her\nbranch of service, is referred by a military physician, or has reason to\nbelieve that he or she was exposed to toxic materials or harmful\nphysical agents such as depleted uranium during such service, in\nobtaining federal treatment services. Such treatment shall include, but\nnot be limited to, a best practice health screening test for exposure to\ndepleted uranium using a bioassay procedure involving sensitive methods\ncapable of detecting depleted uranium at low levels and the use of\nequipment with the capacity to discriminate between different\nradioisotopes in naturally occurring levels of uranium and the\ncharacteristic ratio and marker for depleted uranium. As more scientific\nreliable tests become available such test shall be included in the\ntreatment protocol. No state funds shall be used to pay for such tests\nor such other federal treatment services.\n 3. On or before February first, two thousand seven, the adjutant\ngeneral shall submit a report to the chair of the senate veterans,\nhomeland security and military affairs committee and the chair of the\nassembly veterans' affairs committee on the scope and adequacy of\ntraining received by members of the New York army national guard and the\nNew York air national guard on detecting whether their service as\neligible members is likely to entail, or to have entailed, exposure to\ntoxic materials or harmful physical agents such as depleted uranium. The\nreport shall include an assessment of the feasibility and cost of adding\npredeployment training concerning potential exposure to depleted uranium\nand other toxic chemical substances and the precautions recommended\nunder combat and noncombat conditions while in a combat theater or\ncombat zone of operations.\n