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Military veteran aviators are concerned about possible increased cancer risks related to their service. In response, Congress passed the Aviator Cancer Examination Study (ACES) Act, requiring the Veterans Health Administration to sponsor an independent study. The study will examine the types of exposures experienced by fixed-wing aircraft aircrew and review scientific evidence on whether those exposures may be linked to cancer. The committee will also assess available data on cancer rates, illness, and deaths among veterans who began serving in 1990 or later. The final report will summarize findings, identify research gaps, and recommend next steps for future studies.
Statement of Task
An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a study in accordance with the ACES Act of 2025 (PL 119-32) on cancer prevalence and mortality among individuals who served on active duty in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps as an aircrew member of a fixed-wing aircraft including as a pilot, navigator, weapons systems operator, aircraft system operator, or any other crew member who regularly flew in a fixed-wing aircraft beginning in 1990.
In conducting its work, the committee will:
1) identify exposures associated with military occupations of fixed-wing aircraft crew individuals, including relating to chemicals, compounds, agents, and other phenomena;
2) review the literature to determine associations between identified exposures and the incidence or prevalence of overall cancer morbidity and mortality, and increased incidence or prevalence of specific cancers, including:
a) Brain;
b) Colon and rectal;
c) Kidney;
d) Lung;
e) Melanoma;
f) Non-Hodgkin lymphoma;
g) Pancreatic;
h) Prostate;
i) Testicular;
j) Thyroid;
k) Urinary bladder;
l) and other cancers deemed appropriate.
3) evaluate the frequency of cancer morbidity and mortality of the specific cancers in aircrew members who receive care through the Veterans Health Administration, as well as mortality from overall cancer.
To accomplish this task the committee will consider a number of data sources including health care and other administrative databases of the VA, the Department of Defense (DoD), and the individual Services, respectively, National Death Index, and studies conducted under section 750 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2021 (PL 116-283; 134 Stat. 3716).
The committee will prepare a report that summarizes findings and conclusions based on the committee’s review of the evidence and make recommendations for additional scientific studies to resolve research gaps relating to cancer prevalence and mortality in military aircrew; potential research designs; and federal collaborators in such research activities.
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Comment on Provisional Committee Appointments
Viewers may communicate with the National Academies at any time over the project's duration. In addition, formal comments on the provisional appointments to a committee of the National Academies are solicited during the 20-calendar day period following the posting of the membership and, as described below, these comments will be considered before committee membership is finalized. We welcome your comments (Use the Feedback link below). Please note that the appointments made to this committee are provisional, and changes may be made. No appointment shall be considered final until we have evaluated relevant information bearing on the committee's composition and balance. This information will include the confidential written disclosures to The National Academies by each member-designate concerning potential sources of bias and conflict of interest pertaining to his or her service on the committee; information from discussion of the committee's composition and balance that is conducted in closed session at its first event and again whenever its membership changes; and any public comments that we have received on the membership during the 20-calendar day formal public comment period. If additional members are appointed to this committee, an additional 20-calendar day formal public comment period will be allowed. It is through this process that we determine whether the committee contains the requisite expertise to address its task and whether the points of views of individual members are adequately balanced such that the committee as a whole can address its charge objectively.
Sponsors
Department of Veterans Affairs
Staff
Elizabeth Boyle
Lead
Anthony DePinto
Lead
Alexandra McKay
Alexis Wojtowicz
Daniel Mulrow
Katie Peterson
Kate Guyton
Anne Styka
