Top doctors on the NFL Head, Neck & Spine Committee wrote to U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Fred Upton, asking him to correct a report issued last month that claimed the NFL had unduly interfered with grant making at the National Institutes of Health. They wrote Upton in late May, but publicized the correspondence in a letter to the editor of The Hill yesterday. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) in mid-May released a report concluding the NFL had obstructed the NIH process. “The staff report, which apparently reflects only the view of the minority staff on the committee, was widely perceived to represent the views of all members of the Energy and Commerce Committee,” they wrote to the newspaper. “As a result, the report has dramatically and negatively influenced the public’s perception of our efforts to answer the questions concerning the long-term consequences of concussions. We believe these actions have been detrimental to the cause of public safety and health, which we represent. We respectfully request the attention of Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and other committee leaders to thoroughly review the findings in the report and correct and document the many misrepresentations by the staff authors.” The letter is signed by Drs. Hunt Batjer, Mitchell Berger, Richard Ellenbogen and Russell Lonser. The Pallone report alleged the NFL interfered with grant making at the NIH, which was distributing some of the $30M the league had contributed to concussion research. The NFL objected to the doctor receiving a grant in part because they felt his proposed study did not meet their objectives. The doctors who signed the letter said they were never contracted by the minority staff.
