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| Source: http://www.chicagonow.com |
Athletes have been speaking out to right the wrong that has been done to them. “ Former National Hockey League players and their families recently went to the White House to speak with Obama administration officials and members of Congress about the extreme toll concussions has played on their lives. ‘I describe it as watching someone in a fire, in a house, and I couldn’t pull him out,’ Temple Greenleaf, the wife of former defenseman Dale Purinton. Purinton says that concussions led to anxiety, self medicating, and so much more. And now “Purinton and other players sued the league, saying they mishandled concussion treatments and concealed the long-term effects of brain injuries.” Children who dream to NFL players need should not have their dreams crushed because no one cares about their health. The NIH says that the NFL is untrustworthy. I think we need to investigate and see how we can help these players and future players.
“The National Institutes of Health seems to have discovered what communities across the land already know: The National Football League is an untrustworthy partner. According to a report released Monday by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the NFL pressured the NIH to cancel a $16-million grant to study football-related brain injuries to a prominent Boston brain researcher who the league claimed was biased. The NIH had found no evidence that the researcher, Robert Stern, was biased or subject to a conflict of interest.” Soon after the NFl withdrew “almost all its funding for the NIH study, forcing the agency to find the money in its own budget.” This type of behavior reveals how the NFL is behind the curtain. These types of studies should be funded by the public not privately because if that company does not like what's going on in the study then they will pull all their money out. These types of actions are red flags that should show that there needs to be some changes.
“Congress in 1990 established the nonprofit Foundation for the National Institutes of Health to accept outside donations and funnel them to projects the NIH initiated. NIH policy explicitly barred any attempt by donors to interfere with the agency's responsibilities or ‘otherwise exert real or potential influence in grant or contract decision-making.’ Yet the rules didn't reckon with the NFL. For that's exactly what the league tried to do.” Meaning that NFL had something to hid and did not want the public to know.
The research was on “serious medical conditions prominent in athletes” meaning concussions, dementia, depression, CPE, debilitating syndrome and other neurological conditions. The NIH had no restrictions and could research what they wanted. But, the NFL placed “two representatives on a "stakeholder board" to help develop research priorities” meaning the a research plan had to be approved by the NFL and the NIH. This worked for awhile till they researched CTE. “The syndrome is an especially sensitive subject for the league, as it's at the center of the nearly $1-billion settlement that the league reached with former players in 2013 who had sued over concussion injuries. “ The NFL called that they were biased and “out of bounds for donors.” But this brings to mind if the NFL truly cares about its players safety. Players should know if they put their 100% on the field and will be able to walk off it safely.
The research was on “serious medical conditions prominent in athletes” meaning concussions, dementia, depression, CPE, debilitating syndrome and other neurological conditions. The NIH had no restrictions and could research what they wanted. But, the NFL placed “two representatives on a "stakeholder board" to help develop research priorities” meaning the a research plan had to be approved by the NFL and the NIH. This worked for awhile till they researched CTE. “The syndrome is an especially sensitive subject for the league, as it's at the center of the nearly $1-billion settlement that the league reached with former players in 2013 who had sued over concussion injuries. “ The NFL called that they were biased and “out of bounds for donors.” But this brings to mind if the NFL truly cares about its players safety. Players should know if they put their 100% on the field and will be able to walk off it safely.
