Section 115:16 - [Multiple Versions] Participation in U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry; duty of commissioner to contact those eligible(a) The secretary, in consultation with the commissioner of public health and the adjutant general of the Massachusetts national guard, shall contact all members of the Massachusetts national guard and all known veterans and members of the United States armed forces residing in the commonwealth who may be eligible to participate in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs' Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry, including, but not limited, those who may have served in: (i) Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation New Dawn; (ii) Djibouti, Africa on or after September 11, 2001; (iii) Afghanistan on or after September 11, 2001; (iv) Operation Desert Shield or Operation Desert Storm; or (v) in the Southwest Asia theater of operations on or after August 2, 1990. Veterans or service members contacted shall be encouraged to join the United States Department of Veterans Affairs' Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry and shall be provided with contact information for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs' Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry and a copy of the informational pamphlet created by the commissioner of public health pursuant to subsection (b) of section 244 of chapter 111.(b) The secretary shall create a database of self-identifying service members and veterans who have been exposed to open burn pits or other airborne hazards, which shall include the name, address, electronic address, phone number, location and period of service and other information as deemed necessary. Such information shall be used only for the purposes of communicating information about exposure to toxic airborne chemicals and fumes caused by open burn pits or other airborne hazards to service members and veterans. The database, materials or other information shall be confidential and privileged, shall not be subject to chapter 66, or clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 and shall not be subject to subpoena, discovery or introduction into evidence in any private civil action.Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 115, § 16
Added by Acts 2022, c. 154,§ 18, eff. 8/5/2022.