A leading Democratic senator tackled the National Football League for using “junk science” to downplay the dangers of concussions.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Thursday he intends to reintroduce a bill that would end the permanent anti-trust exemption for the four major U.S. professional leagues: the NFL, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League.
The bill would instead force the anti-trust exemption to be reauthorized every five years. Blumenthal originally introduced the SPORTS Act during the last congressional session, but it didn’t go anywhere.
The move comes after an NFL official acknowledged a link between football and the neurological disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. The disease has been found in former NFL players and is linked to repetitive blows to the head.
Blumenthal said he was inspired to act after a recent New York Times story detailed the NFL’s use of junk science and incomplete data to hide the dangers of concussions.
“For years, the NFL hid the truth from its players, the public and scores of parents who allowed their children to play football long after the league knew of the sport’s dangers,” he said. “The NFL seems to have learned all the wrong lessons from the tobacco industry’s despicable assault on public health and suppression of science.”
Blumenthal also mentioned the NFL turning a “blind eye” to domestic violence, a nod to a scandal in 2013 involving a light punishment for former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was videotaped beating his then-fiance in an elevator.
The Connecticut senator also takes a jab at the NFL for continuing to “condone a racist team name,” referring to the Washington Redskins.
