Sen. Schumer stops by Calhoun to push helmet safety

Calhoun High School football coach Joe Bianca and the Colts’ team captains joined U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer on Monday to announce a legislative push to improve football helmet safety for children and teenagers.

If passed by Congress and signed by the president, the Children’s Sports Athletic Equipment Safety Act would ensure that football helmets met new safety standards to protect younger players from concussions. Schumer says the current voluntary, industry-created safety standards for football helmets do not address concussion risk or youth-size helmets. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 920,000 athletes under the age of 18 were treated in emergency rooms, doctors' offices and clinics for football-related injuries in 2007.

Nine months after enactment of the bill, the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission would evaluate whether voluntary standards were adequate to protect safety, according to Schumer, a Democrat from New York City. If the commission determined that voluntary standards and compliance had not encouraged “substantial” safety improvements, it would issue mandatory rules for helmet standards.

New products would be subject to independent, third-party testing before they were certified to the new safety standards. And the legislation would allow the Federal Trade Commission to impose penalties on companies and stores that made false claims to sell protective gear to football players.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, is supported by the Brain Injury Association of America, the Consumers Union and the National Football League Players Association.

“With concussions on the rise among our young athletes, there is not a moment to spare when it comes to stricter safety standards for the helmets that Long Island players wear on the field each day,” said Schumer. “Hall of Famers and parents all agree –– whether it’s a short practice or the big game, we need to know that all new helmets being produced are meeting the highest standards.”