REGULATORY AMENDMENT

3-01-4

Regulation affected: 38 CFR §3.309

Effective Date of Regulation: July 9, 2001

Date Secretary Approved Regulation: April 19, 2001

Federal Register Citation: 66 FR 23166

 The purpose of the following information on this new VA regulation is to inform all concerned why it is being promulgated.  This information is not regulatory. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has amended its adjudication regulations concerning presumptive service connection for certain diseases for which there is no record during service. This amendment is necessary to implement a decision of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs under the authority granted by 38 U.S.C. 1116 that there is a positive association between exposure to herbicides used in the Republic of Vietnam during the Vietnam era and the subsequent development of Type 2 diabetes. The intended effect of this amendment is to establish presumptive service connection for that condition based on herbicide exposure.  

Approved: April 19, 2001.
Anthony J. Principi,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 38 CFR part 3 is amended as follows:

PART 3--ADJUDICATION

Subpart A--Pension, Compensation, and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation

    1. The authority citation for part 3, subpart A continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), unless otherwise noted.
 

    2. In Sec. 3.309, paragraph (e), the listing of diseases is amended by adding ``Type 2 diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes)'' between ``Chloracne or other acneform disease consistent with chloracne'' and ``Hodgkin's disease'' to read as follows:
 

Sec. 3.309 Diseases subject to presumptive service connection.

* * * * *

    (e) * * *
    Type 2 diabetes (also known as Type II diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes)
* * * * *
 

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a) and 1116).