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NFL Chief Medical Adviser Says League Making Progress On Concussions; Others Disagree

Despite a significant increase in reported concussions in '15, NFL Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Betsy Nabel on Thursday said that there are "promising developments" that is leaving the league "encouraged about improving players' health," according to Bob Glauber of NEWSDAY. Nabel, a member of the league’s Head, Neck & Spine Committee, said, "I’m a firm believer in the power of research and how discovery and innovation can make advances to improve health." Glauber notes the league last week announced that 271 concussions "were documented" in '15, an increase of 65 from '14 and the "highest number" since '12. NFL Senior VP/Health & Safety Policy Jeff Miller said that one reason for the increase "was that the league’s reporting policy expanded beyond simply players missing games." However, not everyone "is convinced the NFL’s intentions are pure." Concussion Legacy Foundation Exec Dir Chris Nowinski said that the league "continues to drag its feet on important issues affecting current and former players" (NEWSDAY, 2/5). In Toronto, Bruce Arthur reports Dr. Mitch Berger, who is also a member of the Head, Neck & Spine Committee, on Thursday "resolutely refused to admit there was a link between CTE and football." Berger said, "There’s no question that you can find degenerative changes that are indicative of CTE in individuals who have played football. ... (But) I think tau is found in brains that have traumatic injuries. Whether it’s from football, whether it’s from car accidents, gunshot wounds, domestic violence, remains to be seen." He added, "We've seen evidence anecdotally of a number of players who have come to autopsy who have had the diagnosis made. We’ve also seen a number of players who have done very well" (TORONTO STAR, 2/5).

CHANGES NEEDED: Pathologist and CollabRx Chief Medical Officer George Lundberg writes an Op/Ed for the N.Y. TIMES under the header, "The NFL's Next Play: Address Brain Trauma Or Fade Away." The failure of the league to "take effective actions to protect the brains of current players puts it into willful-negligence territory." Other than "increasing some on-field penalties, the league has done almost nothing to protect players now or in the future." Lundberg: "If the NFL can't effectively deal with the concussion issue, it may follow the same arc as boxing" (N.Y. TIMES, 2/5).

OMINOUS CLOUDS: In Buffalo, Tyler Dunne writes this "dark cloud over the game will not disappear." There will "be more deaths, more CTE revealed, more mothers refusing to let their sons play a violent game" (BUFFALO NEWS, 2/5). A SACRAMENTO BEE editorial writes "score one more for CTE" in light of the revelation that late NFLer Ken Stabler was found to have had the disease. Football "is thrilling, and it's hard to separate its mix of skill and violence and patriotism and marketing and nostalgia." Still, the casualties "are mounting." The editorial: "Tuning them out won't be easy this weekend, as America waits for the kickoff and Stabler's survivors wait, shattered, for the cold comfort of possible admission to the Hall of Fame" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 2/5).

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