Smoking tobacco products - material contribution

Alzheimer-type dementia - Smoking tobacco products - material contribution Factor

Smoking cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco due to VEA service need only have made a material contribution to the minimum smoking requirements specified in the SOP (refer Kattenberg v Repatriation Commission [2002] FCA 412).  It has not been possible to make changes to the smoking module in CCPS to take account of this, but for many cases this is of no consequence because service-related smoking alone is sufficient to meet the SOP requirements.  However, for smoking cases that do not succeed under the CCPS smoking module, there is a contention:

• Smoking tobacco products - material contribution

This contention covers all types of smoking – cigarettes, pipe and cigars - with rulebase questions to ascertain whether or not VEA service made a material contribution to the SOP requirements.  This may entail addressing issues that have already been covered in the smoking module because it has not been possible to isolate specific facts established within that module.

Last reviewed for CCPS 16 September 2011.

Investigative Documents

Preliminary questions [41441]

30303 the veteran has smoked cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco at some time.

41462  the veteran has established the causal connection between smoking tobacco products and VEA service for the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia.

41463   the veteran has established the causal connection between smoking tobacco products and operational service for the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia.

or

41464   the veteran has established the causal connection between smoking tobacco products and eligible service for the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia.

Clinical onset and operational service [41463]

41535 the veteran smoked at least 20 pack years of cigarettes or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia and, where smoking had ceased, at least some smoking was maintained in the five years before the clinical onset.

41466 smoking as a causal result of operational service made a material contribution to the SOP requirements for Alzheimer-type dementia and smoking tobacco products.

Clinical onset and eligible service [41464]

41535 the veteran smoked at least 20 pack years of cigarettes or the equivalent thereof in other tobacco products before the clinical onset of Alzheimer-type dementia and, where smoking had ceased, at least some smoking was maintained in the five years before the clinical onset.

41467 smoking as a causal result of eligible service made a material contribution to the SOP requirements for Alzheimer-type dementia and smoking tobacco products.