Amendment Statement of Principles

concerning

DIABETES MELLITUS

No. 28 of 2016

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 diabetes mellitus No. 28 of 2016.
2. The Repatriation Medical Authority amends, under subsection 196B(8) of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986, Statement of Principles concerning diabetes mellitus Instrument No. 90 of 2011, as amended, by:

1. Replacing existing factors (b)(iii), b(viii), j(iii) and j(viii) in clause 6 as follows:

"(b)(iii) smoking at least five pack-years of cigarettes, or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products, before the clinical onset of diabetes mellitus, and where smoking has ceased, the clinical onset has occurred within 15 years of cessation; or";

"(b)(viii) having bilateral orchiectomy before the clinical onset of diabetes mellitus; or";

"(j)(iii) smoking at least five pack-years of cigarettes, or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products, before the clinical worsening of diabetes mellitus, and where smoking has ceased, the clinical worsening has occurred within 15 years of cessation; or";

""(j)(viii) having bilateral orchiectomy before the clinical worsening of diabetes mellitus; or";

B.                 Inserting new factors b(xiii), (b)(xiv), j(xiii) and j(xiv) in clause 6 as follows:

"(b)(xiii)              being exposed to second-hand smoke for at least 5 000 hours before the clinical onset of diabetes mellitus, where the last exposure to second-hand smoke occurred within the 15 years before the clinical onset of diabetes mellitus; or";

"(b)(xiv)              having antiandrogen therapy with a gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonist (including goserelin and leuprorelin) for at least the one year before the clinical onset of diabetes mellitus; or";

"(j)(xiii)              being exposed to second-hand smoke for at least 5 000 hours before the clinical worsening of diabetes mellitus, where the last exposure to second-hand smoke occurred within the 15 years before the clinical worsening of diabetes mellitus; or";

"(j)(xiv)              having antiandrogen therapy with a gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonist (including goserelin and leuprorelin) for at least the one year before the clinical worsening of diabetes mellitus; or";

C.                 Replacing the definitions of "a drug or a drug from a class of drugs from specified list 1" and "pack-years of cigarettes, or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products" in clause 9 as follows:

'"a drug or a drug from a class of drugs from specified list 1" means:

(a)                         beta-blockers;

(b)                        nicotinic acid for the treatment of dyslipidaemia;

(c)                         pentamidine;

(d)                        protease inhibitors;

(e)                         statins;

(f)                          stavudine;

(g)                        streptozotocin;

(h)                        thiazide diuretics; or

(i)                          zidovudine;'

'"pack-years of cigarettes, or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products" means a calculation of consumption where one pack-year of cigarettes equals 20 tailor-made cigarettes per day for a period of one calendar year, or 7 300 cigarettes.  One tailor-made cigarette approximates one gram of tobacco or one gram of cigar or pipe tobacco by weight.  One pack-year of tailor-made cigarettes equates to 7.3 kilograms of smoking tobacco by weight.  Tobacco products mean cigarettes, pipe tobacco or cigars, smoked alone or in any combination;'; and

D.                Inserting a definition of "being exposed to second-hand smoke" in alphabetical order in clause 9 as follows:

'"being exposed to second-hand smoke" means being in an enclosed space and inhaling smoke from burning tobacco products or smoke that has been exhaled by a person who is smoking;'.  

3.                     The amendments made by this instrument apply to all matters to which Instrument No. 90 of 2001, as amended, section 120B of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 and section 339 of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 apply.

4.                     The amendments made by this instrument take effect from 4 April 2016.

Dated this   fourth   day of   March   2016

The Common Seal of the  )

Repatriation Medical Authority )

was affixed at the direction of: )

PROFESSOR NICHOLAS SAUNDERS AO

CHAIRPERSON