Amendment Statement of Principles
concerning
 
ALZHEIMER-TYPE DEMENTIA
No. 17 of 2014
 
for the purposes of the
 
Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986
and
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004
1.                     This Instrument may be cited as Amendment Statement of Principles concerning Alzheimer-type dementia No. 17 of 2014.
2.                     The Repatriation Medical Authority amends, under subsection 196B(8) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986, Statement of Principles concerning Alzheimer-type dementia Instrument No. 22 of 2010, by:
(A)        Replacing existing factor "(e)" in clause 6 with the following:
"(e)       having diabetes mellitus for at least the four years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia; or"; and
(B)         Inserting additional factors "(ja)", "(jb)" and "(jc)" immediately following factor "(j)" in clause 6 as follows:
"(ja)      having posttraumatic stress disorder at least five years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia; or";
"(jb)     having received a cumulative equivalent dose of at least ten sieverts of ionising radiation to the brain within the ten years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia; or";
"(jc)      undergoing a course of therapeutic radiation for cancer, where the brain was in the field of radiation, within the ten years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia; or"; and
(C)         Inserting a 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;'.
3.                     The amendments made by this instrument apply to all matters to which Instrument No. 22 of 2010, section 120A of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and section 338 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 apply.
4.                     The amendments made by this instrument take effect from 15 January 2014.
Dated this   nineteenth   day of   December   2013
The Common Seal of the                    )
Repatriation Medical Authority          )
was affixed at the direction of:          )
PROFESSOR NICHOLAS SAUNDERS AO
CHAIRPERSON