Amendment of Statement of Principles concerning soft tissue sarcoma No. 74 of 2011 (Cth)

Amendment Statement of Principles

concerning

SOFT TISSUE SARCOMA

No. 74 of 2011

for the purposes of the

Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

and

Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004

1. This Instrument may be cited as Statement of Principles concerning soft tissue sarcoma No. 74 of 2011.

1. The Repatriation Medical Authority amends, under subsection 196B(8) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986, Statement of Principles concerning soft tissue sarcoma Instrument No. 14 of 2006, as amended by Instrument No. 36 of 2008, by:

(A)Replacing existing factors "(b)" and "(c)" in clause 6 with the following:

"(b)           having received a cumulative equivalent dose of at least 0.5 sievert of ionising radiation to the affected region at least five years before the clinical onset of soft tissue sarcoma; or";

"(c)           for angiosarcoma only, having received a cumulative equivalent dose of at least 0.5 sievert of ionising radiation to the affected region at least two years before the clinical onset of soft tissue sarcoma; or";

(B)Deleting existing factors "(d)" and "(f)" from clause 6;

(C)Re-numbering existing factor "(e)" in clause 6 as "(d)";

(D)Re-numbering existing factors "(g)" to "(j)" in clause 6 as "(e)" to "(h)" respectively;

(E)Replacing "6(j)" in clause 7 with "6(h)";

(F)Inserting a new definition for "cumulative equivalent dose" in clause 9 as follows:

'"cumulative equivalent dose" means the total dose of ionising radiation received by the particular organ or tissue. The formula used to calculate the cumulative equivalent dose allows doses from multiple types of ionising radiation to be combined, by accounting for their differing biological effect. The unit of equivalent dose is the sievert. For the purposes of this Statement of Principles, the calculation of cumulative equivalent dose excludes doses received from normal background radiation, but includes therapeutic radiation, diagnostic radiation, cosmic radiation at high altitude, radiation from occupation-related sources and radiation from nuclear explosions or accidents;'; and

(G)Deleting the definition of "a course of therapeutic radiation" from clause 9.

1. The amendment made by this instrument applies to all matters to which Instrument No. 14 of 2006, as amended by Instrument No. 36 of 2008, section 120B of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and section 339 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 apply.

1. The amendment made by this instrument takes effect from 25 May 2011.

Dated this   ninth   day of   May   2011

The Common Seal of the                    )

Repatriation Medical Authority          )

was affixed to this instrument   )

in the presence of:   )

KEN DONALD

CHAIRPERSON