Executive Order 12420

By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America by Public Law 97-60 and Section 301(a) of Title 37 of the United States Code, and in order to define the scope of two additional categories of hazardous duty, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Executive Order No. 11157 of June 22, 1964, as amended, is further amended by adding the following new subsections to Section 109 of Part I: "(h) The term "duty involving frequent and regular exposure to highly toxic pesticides" shall be construed to mean duty performed by members who, while under competent orders assigning such members to the entomology, pest control, pest management, or preventive medicine functions of a uniformed service for a period of 30 consecutive days or more, are required to perform in any calendar month a fumigation task utilizing (1) phosphine, sulfuryl fluoride, hydrogen cyanide, methyl bromide, or (2) a fumigant of comparable high acute toxicity and hazard potential.  "(i) The term "duty involving laboratory work that utilizes live dangerous viruses or bacteria" shall be construed to mean primary duty performed by members who work with micro-organisms (1) that cause disease (A) with a high potential for mortality, and (B) for which effective therapeutic procedures are not available, and (2) for which no effective prophylactic immunization exists, while such members are assigned by competent orders for a period of 30 consecutive days or more to participate in or conduct applied or basic research that is characterized by a changing variety of techniques, procedures, equipment, and experiments.". Sec. 2. This Order shall be effective as of October 1, 1981.

RONALD REAGAN The White House, May 11, 1983.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:07 a. m., May 12, 1983] Note: The text of the Executive order was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on May 12.