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Senators Introduce Sports Equipment Legislation To Protect Young Athletes
Riddell Helmets have been in the headlines recently for their part in the litigation facing the NFL as well as a recent suit they lost to a teen claiming they falsely claimed their helmets could prevent concussion. Now, two legislators are working to introduce laws that would improve equipment safety standards for athletic equipment and more harshly fining companies like Riddell who have supposedly made false advertising claims.
Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and John D. “Jay” Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), introduced the Youth Sports Concussion Act to ensure that safety standards for sports equipment are up to date and informed by the latest science.
“We want our children to be active and participate in sports, but we must take every precaution to protect them from traumatic head injuries,” Udall told Silver City Sun-News. “There will always be some risk, but athletes, coaches and parents need to be aware of the dangers and signs of concussion. And in order for them to best protect the young athletes, we must make sure they are using safe equipment and curb misleading advertising that gives them a false sense of security.”
This isn’t the first brain injury project led by Udall and Rockefeller. Last October, they urged the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to form a committee to assess how to best protect youth athletes from brain injuries. The findings of the NAS committee would be used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make the guidelines that would be used under the Youth Sports Concussion Act.
