As Introduced

131st General Assembly

Regular Session S. C. R. No. 11

2015-2016

Senator Uecker

Cosponsors: Senators Gardner, Hughes, Eklund, Burke, Seitz, Hite, Tavares

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To urge the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign into law the Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2015.

BE IT Resolved by the SENATE of the state of ohio (the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES concurring):

WHEREAS, Millions have served our great nation in the Armed Forces of the United States; and

WHEREAS, During their service many have been exposed to toxins with unknown consequences; and

WHEREAS, Most of these veterans did not know, while in service, that they were being exposed to harmful substances; and

WHEREAS, Many of these veterans suffer from the harmful effects of toxic exposure; and

WHEREAS, Service members that have been exposed to agent orange and its dioxin contaminates have reported a variety of serious health problems and symptoms, including cancers and birth defects in their descendants; and

WHEREAS, Many children and grandchildren of veterans have structural and nonstructural birth defects; and

WHEREAS, The number of Vietman veterans who have children and grandchildren with birth defects related to exposure to agent orange is significant; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has accepted that certain of these defects may be the result of the parents' exposure to harmful substances during service; and

WHEREAS, Birth anomalies in the children of veterans are not tracked independently of other birth defects, so may go unreported, unexplained, and not researched; and

WHEREAS, State birth defect registries typically do not report to a national birth defect registry; and

WHEREAS, The cause of a miscarriage or of a still birth is seldom known or determined; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense, which have kept records of toxic exposures and possible exposures, have not researched possible effects of such exposures on the descendants of veterans; and

WHEREAS, S. 901 and H.B. 1769, currently pending in Congress, and known as the Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2015, would establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs a national center for research on the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions of the descendants of veterans exposed to toxic substances during service in the Armed Forces that are related to that exposure, and would establish an advisory board on such health conditions; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the members of the 131st General Assembly of the State of Ohio respectfully urge the United States Congress to pass and the President to sign into law the Toxic Exposure Research Act of 2015; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the President and Vice-President of the United States, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional delegation, and the news media of Ohio.