Highlight any text to annotate

“(a) Study.—The Director of the Office of Technology Assessment shall, in a manner consistent with the Technology Assessment Act of 1972 (2 U.S.C. 472(d) [2 U.S.C. 471 et seq.]), assess—“(1) the potential utility of each of the Persian Gulf Registry and the Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Registry for scientific study and assessment of the intermediate and long-term health consequences of military service in the Persian Gulf theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War; “(2) the extent to which each registry meets the requirements of the provisions of law under which the registry is established; “(3) the extent to which data contained in each registry—“(A) are maintained in a manner that ensures permanent preservation and facilitates the effective, efficient retrieval of information that is potentially relevant to the scientific study of the intermediate and long-term health consequences of military service in the Persian Gulf theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War; and “(B) would be useful for scientific study regarding such health consequences; “(4) the adequacy of any plans to update each of the registries; “(5) the extent to which the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the case may be, is assembling and maintaining information on the Persian Gulf theater of operations (including information on troop locations and atmospheric and weather conditions) in a manner that facilitates the usefulness of, maintenance of, and retrieval of information from, the applicable registry; and “(6) the adequacy and compatibility of protocols for the health examinations and counseling provided under section 703 and health examinations provided by the Department of Defense to members of the Armed Forces for the purpose of assessing the health status of members of the Armed Forces who served in the Persian Gulf theater of operations during the Persian Gulf War. “(b) Access to Information.—The Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Secretary of Defense shall provide the Director with access to such records and information under the jurisdiction of each such secretary as the Director determines necessary to permit the Director to carry out the study required under this section. “(c) Reports.—The Director shall—“(1) not later than 270 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 4, 1992], submit to Congress a report on the results of the assessment carried out under this section of the Persian Gulf Registry and health-examination protocols; and “(2) not later than 15 months after such date, submit to Congress a report on the results of the assessment carried out under this section of the Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Registry. “(d) Definitions.—For the purposes of this section:“(1) The term ‘Persian Gulf Registry’ means the registry established under section 734 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 (Public Law 102–190; 105 Stat. 1411; 10 U.S.C. 1074 note), as amended by section 704. “(2) The term ‘Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Registry’ means the Persian Gulf War Veterans Health Registry established under section 702.

Add a comment

Sign in to comment on this section.

Annotate the text

Highlight any passage on the Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.