PUBLIC LAW 98-542—OCT. 24, 1984 (A) specification of the maximum period of time after exposure to such herbicide or ionizing radiation for the development of those diseases; and (B) a requirement that a claimant filing a claim based upon a veteran's exposure to a herbicide containing dioxin or to ionizing radiation from the detonation of a nuclear device may not be required to produce evidence substantiating the veteran's exposure during active military, naval, or air service if the information in the veteran's service records and other records of the Department of Defense is not inconsistent with the claim that the veteran was present where and when the claimed exposure occurred. (c)(1) The Administrator of Veterans' Affairs shall develop the regulations required by this section (and any amendment to those regulations) through a public review and comment process in accordance with the provisions of section 553 of title 5, United States Code. That process may include consideration by the Administrator of the recommendations of the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards and the Scientific Council thereof (established under section 6) with respect to the proposed regulations, and that process shall include consideration by the Administrator of the recommendations of the Committee and the Council with respect to the final regulations and proposed and final amendments to such regulations. The period for public review and comment shall be completed not later than ninety days after the proposed regulations or proposed amendments are published in the Federal Register. (2)(A) Not later than one hundred and eighty days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall develop and publish in the Federal Register a proposed version of the regulations required to be prescribed by this section. (B) Not later than three hundred days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall publish in the Federal Register the final regulations (together with explanations of the bases for the guidelines, standards, and criteria contained therein) required to be prescribed by this section.
98 STAT. 2729
Federal Register, P" ^^^ ^°^'
ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS
SEC. 6. (a) The advisory committee referred to in subsections (b) and (c) of section 5, to be known as the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards (hereinafter in this section referred to as the "Committee") shall consist of fifteen members appointed by the Administrator of Veterans' Affairs after requesting and considering recommendations from veteran organizations, including— (1) eleven individuals (of whom none may be members of the Armed Forces on active duty or employees of the Veterans' Administration or the Department of Defense and not more than three may be employees of other Federal departments or agencies), appointed, after requesting and considering the recommendations of the heads of Federal entities with particular expertise in biomedical and environmental science, including— (A) three individuals who are recognized medical or scientific authorities in fields pertinent to understanding the health effects of exposure to dioxin;
38 USC 354 note.
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